Dell and HP have disabled HEVC support in select PCs, removing hardware-based video decoding that's been standard in Intel and AMD CPUs since 2015. The move has frustrated users who rely on HEVC for 4K and HDR streaming from services like Netflix and Apple TV+, as well as for editing smartphone videos. Without hardware acceleration, these tasks fall back to slower software processing.

HEVC patent licensing involves navigating a complex web of fees paid to companies like Ericsson, InterDigital, and Nokia. Vendors can license directly from patent holders or through patent pools like Access Advance, which administers licenses covering about 80 percent of global HEVC patents. Access Advance recently increased royalty rates for its HEVC Advance patent pool, with new rates taking effect July 1.

Companies cite different reasons for dropping HEVC support. HP suggests lower-end business laptops don't justify the patent fees and litigation risks for high-resolution video. Dell limits HEVC to "premium systems" with 4K displays or discrete graphics. Synology removed HEVC from its NAS operating systems after finding most customers handled video processing on playback devices rather than servers. While licensing costs factor in, vendors emphasize product optimization and resource efficiency as primary drivers for eliminating the codec.