
Who is more innovative: Samsung or Apple? And how do you actually do something like that? One possibility: You look at how many patents the companies have been granted in the last year.
A willingness to innovate is also expressed not least in the will to research – one indicator here can be the number of patents granted. The more the better. The figures from last year (2021) are currently available from the US Patent Office (source: ifiCLAIMS). Not surprisingly, both Samsung and Apple are in the top 50 , but where exactly?
Patent race: Samsung vs. Apple
We find Apple in 7th place. An improvement of one position compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, Apple was granted 9 percent fewer patents - 2,541 for 2021 in total. "Nemesis" Samsung easily beats this value. With 6,366 patents, it's enough for second place - one percent down from 2020, but still the silver medal among the most inventive companies in the USA.
Samsung's latest prank, the Galaxy S22:
Incidentally, Samsung is represented a second time, because "Samsung Display Co Ltd" then also has 1,975 patents (13th place), an increase of 4 percent. If both companies (Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display) are added together, first place is only just missed. But IBM still has a small lead over Samsung (8,341) with 8,682 patents.
One of the patents Apple was granted in the last year:
Canon, TSMC, Huawei and Intel are also ahead of Apple. But behind Apple are LG, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Amazon. So this is not a really bad result for Apple. In general, if we are honest, the number of patents alone says nothing about practical application. Patents still have to be implemented.
Apple benefits directly from Samsung's ingenuity
Worth mentioning: Ultimately, Apple also benefits from the research will of the other companies. Samsung, for example, is not only a competitor but also one of Apple's most important suppliers. The iPhone manufacturer buys displays, memory and much more. Without the willingness to innovate and without the necessary basic research of the competitors, ultimately no consumer goods product like the iPhone could be put on its feet.
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