US customs has approved a shipment of HTC’s flagship smartphones into the country, easing concerns that the Taiwanese group’s long-running patent dispute with Apple could bar its newest phones from the country.
Two weeks ago, HTC said customs authorities had stopped imports of some of its models to ensure they did not infringe an Apple patent that a US trade commission last year said HTC had violated.
For HTC, the damage from the delays to its new One X and EVO 4G LTE models could have been significant, said analysts. Had the delay been longer, the handsets could have been pitched more directly in competition with Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S3, both expected in the US later this year.