Samsung Electronics has the largest number of wearable patents among global IT companies.
According to a report by Boston-based new technology consulting firm Lux Research on July 1, the number of wearable-related patents registered during the period from 2010 to March 2015 totaled 41,301, with an average annual growth rate of 40 percent.
Of the total, Samsung Electronics accounted for 4 percent, while Qualcomm and Apple took up 3.0 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.
IT firms accounted for 23 percent of the patents, while individual developers accounted for the remaining 77 percent. Twenty five percent of Samsung Electronics’ wearable patents were associated with health care solutions.
Lux Research said that the “printed, flexible and organic electronics” (PFOE) patent market is far hotter than the wearable patent market, saying that the number of PFOE patents registered since 2010 stood at 140,926, more than three times higher than that of wearable patents. Even in the PFOE patent category, Samsung Electronics has the largest share of 10 percent.
