As mobile phones upgraded over the years, the number of components included in the phone also increased to a great extent. A smartphone has moved beyond the mode of communication and serves a means to entertainment (mostly), productivity, organizing, learning, and soon with IOT it will be even controlling things.
Patents have been playing an important role in the wireless phone industry since 1990. As per WIPO, 35% of all patents filed worldwide from 1990 may relate to smartphones. After the 2009 recession, the patent filing continuously rose year after year till 2015, and then it fell and stabilized or hit a plateau. Innovation trends in the smartphone domain increase and decrease with a technology going from the growth phase to maturity. In last few years, 3G/4G technologies have been slowly reaching maturity while 5G and IoT are in growth phase. This for sure has going to change the patent filing trends in the coming years.
