Intellectual property holders will collectively reap $20 billion annually in global royalties from 5G smartphones in 2025, according to new research from Strategy Analytics. Three vendors are poised to capture the lion’s share, with Qualcomm, Ericsson and Nokia together accounting for more than 90 percent of total 5G smartphone royalties.

Qualcomm will take more than half of all royalties, while Ericsson and Nokia combined will take 35 percent, the firm found.5G smartphones are expected to start launching early next year, but IP holders have started to outline licensing rates. 

Nokia last week said it expects to license its portfolio of 5G NR standard essential patents to vendors at a rate of up to about $3.50 per mobile phone, and Ericsson hopes to charge $5 per device. Qualcomm, meanwhile, said it would charge 2.275 percent of the selling price for single-mode devices, and 3.25 percent of the selling price for multi-mode handsets—and cap the selling price at $400.