Microsoft and Samsung reach settlement over royalties dispute

Microsoft has announced that it has settled a contract dispute it has been having Samsung, which could signal an eventual arrival of new Windows Phone handsets from the Korean manufacturer in the future.

From Microsoft:

"Samsung and Microsoft are pleased to announce that they have ended their contract dispute in U.S. court as well as the ICC arbitration. Terms of the agreement are confidential."

For some background, last year, Microsoft filed legal action against Samsung after it refused to pay royalties it owed to the tech giant over patent licensing fees for its Android devices. Under the terms of their contract, Samsung would be required to share sensitive data with Microsoft, something the Korean manufacturer argued could violate U.S. antitrust laws after Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia.

As far as future Windows Phone handsets from Samsung are concerned, the company stated in early January of this year that it would consider building more of the devices if it could reach a settlement with Microsoft over the aforementioned licensing scuffle. Since the two companies appear to have agreed on settlement terms, the door is now open to more Windows Phone handsets from Samsung — something that could be pretty big since we haven't seen anything new from Samsung since the ATIV SE which was based on its Galaxy S4 Android handset.

Source: Microsoft

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl