Samsung is pushing towards Internet of Things, and it acquired SmartThings to strengthen its presence in the home automation market. The South Korean electronics is already developing an operating system for IoT products, but most of the innovation is locked up in patents.
Quartz has compiled a new report, which ranks companies based on the number of IoT patents they hold, based on data from LexInnova. Samsung ranks ninth in the list, which is quite low as per Samsung's stature. Most of the IoT patents are held by firms that make networking equipment, routers, and other chips. Qualcomm leads the list with 724 patents while Intel, ZTE, Nokia, and LG rank second, third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
Interestingly, Samsung doesn't seem to hold any “high-strength” IoT patent. These high-strength patents are the only ones that are litigated, which suggests that only 1.5 percent of all the IoT patents are worth the cost of enforcing. Qualcomm has the clear advantage when it comes to high-strength IoT patents, and the company made $1 billion in revenue last year from chips used in IoT products.
