Edible Apple

Apple and HTC settled their longstanding patent dispute this weekend, putting an end to a number of legal battles across multiple jurisdictions. While specific details surrounding the settlement agreement remain confidential, Stern Agee analyst Shaw Wu got in touch with some industry contacts of his and speculates that HTC will be paying Apple about $6 to $8 per each smartphone sold.

With HTC expected to ship between 30 million and 35 million smartphones in 2013, that would result in annual revenue of between $180 million and $280 million for Apple.

“This is apparently lower than the range AAPL initially proposed,” Wu wrote in a note to investors on Monday. “But to put this in context, this compares to press reports indicated HTC pays (Microsoft) $5 per phone running Android.”

It’s nice for Apple to get HTC on board, but the big kahuna remains Samsung. Not only do their products more closely resemble the iPhone but they also comprise the best-selling Android smartphones on the market. And despite Apple’s victory over Samsung in California this past Summer – to the tune of $1.05 billion – that legal battle shows no signs of dying down anytime soon.

via AppleInsider