Samsung Ranked As No. 1 Patent Filer For Wearable Devices
Every so often a nugget of tech news reveals some of the weird and fascinating wearable tech that Samsung is tinkering on: from a smartwatch that can recognize barcodes or read gestures, to a flexible phone you can strap onto your wrist.
to the extent that it’s now the biggest patent filer in the field of wearable technology, according to a report out Tuesday from Boston, Mass-based Lux Research.
Samsung accounts for 4% of the 41,301 patents published on wearable electronics between 2010 to May 2015. Following close behind in the rankings are Qualcomm with 3% of patents and Apple with 2.2%. Developers not associated with the top 15 companies filing wearable patents make up the vast majority of filers, at 77%.
Samsung’s place at the top of the rankings shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, considering it was the first major tech company to launch a smartwatch in Sept. 2013 with the Samsung Galaxy Gear. Still, being first hasn’t led to a resounding success. The Gear launched to mixed reviews and by October 2013 around 30% of Gear watches being sold at electronics retailer Best Buy were reportedly being returned by customers.
Health monitoring accounts for 10% of wearable patents, though for Samsung health is a bigger focus, taking up 25% of the company’s wearable filings. That could prove prescient for Samsung in spite of everything, since medical companies and tech firms with a medical focus like Philips Electronics, are are close behind in the wearable patent rankings.
“Wearable electronics will have a lot of impact in the medical industry so this is why Samsung is over here,” says Lux Research analyst Tony Sun.
One oddity in Lux’s overall findings: while there’s been a surge in research into printed, flexible and organic electronics (PFOE) with 140,926 patents filed since 2010, there’s been very little overlap with with wearables. Companies have filed just 651 patents covering both areas.
Flexible electronics found in things like e-paper displays, conductive inks and thin-film batteries, are crucial to improving the popularity of wearable devices among the public, says Lux Research analyst Tony Sun.
“[They] create the possibility of comfortable, adaptable and immersive wearable devices that can seamlessly fit into everyday life.” Yet the technology is currently being applied mostly to display technology, rather than wearables.
The most popular area for wearable patents with 11% of the total relate to consume communications applications like entertainment, device control and smartphone replacements.
Samsung’s research and development efforts in the area have been piling up, to the extent that it’s now the biggest patent filer in the field of wearable technology, according to a report out Tuesday from Boston, Mass-based Lux Research.
Samsung accounts for 4% of the 41,301 patents published on wearable electronics between 2010 to May 2015. Following close behind in the rankings are Qualcomm with 3% of patents and Apple with 2.2%. Developers not associated with the top 15 companies filing wearable patents make up the vast majority of filers, at 77%.
Samsung’s place at the top of the rankings shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, considering it was the first major tech company to launch a smartwatch in Sept. 2013 with the Samsung Galaxy Gear. Still, being first hasn’t led to a resounding success. The Gear launched to mixed reviews and by October 2013 around 30% of Gear watches being sold at electronics retailer Best Buy were reportedly being returned by customers.
Health monitoring accounts for 10% of wearable patents, though for Samsung health is a bigger focus, taking up 25% of the company’s wearable filings. That could prove prescient for Samsung in spite of everything, since medical companies and tech firms with a medical focus like Philips Electronics, are are close behind in the wearable patent rankings.
“Wearable electronics will have a lot of impact in the medical industry so this is why Samsung is over here,” says Lux Research analyst Tony Sun.
One oddity in Lux’s overall findings: while there’s been a surge in research into printed, flexible and organic electronics (PFOE) with 140,926 patents filed since 2010, there’s been very little overlap with with wearables. Companies have filed just 651 patents covering both areas.
Flexible electronics found in things like e-paper displays, conductive inks and thin-film batteries, are crucial to improving the popularity of wearable devices among the public, says Lux Research analyst Tony Sun.
“[They] create the possibility of comfortable, adaptable and immersive wearable devices that can seamlessly fit into everyday life.” Yet the technology is currently being applied mostly to display technology, rather than wearables.
The most popular area for wearable patents with 11% of the total relate to consume communications applications like entertainment, device control and smartphone replacements.
