Where does Apple Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), Apple Inc. ranks #6 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does Apple Inc. hold?

Apple Inc. holds 30,560 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 315 technology areas.

What is Apple Inc.'s Innovation Score?

Apple Inc. has an Innovation Score of 79.0 out of 100 (top 1% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does Apple Inc. focus on?

Apple Inc.'s top technology area is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing) with 11,007 patents, ranking #6 of 13,878 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 315 CPC subclasses total.

Is Apple Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

Apple Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +22% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). The company is maintaining or growing its granted-patent output.

What does claim depth mean for Apple Inc.'s patents?

Apple Inc.'s patents average 19.1 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the Apple Inc. patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView US Corporation

Apple Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 30,560 granted patents across 315 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2025. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Apple ranks #6 of 49,997 US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 30,560 patents across 315 technology areas.

#6
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (79.0/100): 19.1
avg claims per patent: +22%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R6 · US Corporation #6 · 30,560 grants

GRANTS-MEGA · TOP-DECILE · CLEAR-GAP · CPC-BROAD · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-UP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MEGA 31K grants
TOP-DECILE #6/49,997
CLEAR-GAP Qualcomm Incorporated
CPC-BROAD G06F · 315 areas
INNOV-STRONG 79.0/100
CLAIMS-RICH 19.1 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-UP +22% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Qualcomm Incorporated (±206 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

How Apple’s 79.0 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Volume 35.7 pts (45%) Velocity 6.9 pts (9%) Breadth 25.0 pts (32%) Claim depth 11.4 pts (14%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Apple · this assignee

79
Hyundai Mobis · near

79
Nippon Telegraph… · near

79
Tyco Fire & Security · near

79
Micron Technology · near

79
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows Apple's Innovation Score is 79.0/100 (top 1% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

Does more volume mean deeper claims for Apple?

Each dot is one of Apple’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). Apple’s own 19.1 claims/patent is ABOVE the 16.1 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

Apple vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

How Apple's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, Apple Inc. received 15,395 grants versus 12,569 in 2015–2019 (+22% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2024 at 3,506 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 2,147. Lead class G06F accounts for 36% of the portfolio across 315 subclasses.

Apple's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, Apple Inc. moved from 8,962 to 9,251 grants (1.03x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). Among 3,296 tracked assignees with ≥100 grants and ≥20 prior-period grants, that multiple ranks #1,097. See the growth leaderboard.

Samsung

106,890
International Bus…

72,926
Canon

34,378
LG

32,607
Taiwan Semiconduc…

31,041
Apple ◀

30,560
Qualcomm Incorpor…

30,354
Intel

27,498
Microsoft Technol…

24,392

What this shows Apple sits among the ten largest US patent holders, a tier dominated by electronics and semiconductor multinationals.

Other top-10 patent holders

The other largest US assignees by granted patent volume.

Leaders in G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in Apple's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for Apple, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing), Apple ranks #6 of 13,878 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (79 here).

Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd. 79 Nippon Telegraph AND Telephone Corporation 79 Tyco Fire & Security GMBH 79 Micron Technology, Inc. 79

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (19.1 here).

Infineon Technologies AG 19.1 avg BlackBerry Limited 19.1 avg Electronic Arts Inc. 19.1 avg Uatc, LLC 19.1 avg

Apple's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

79 Top 1% higher than 99% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2015–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

Apple Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	2,147	7.0%
2016	2,551	8.3%
2017	2,583	8.5%
2018	2,470	8.1%
2019	2,818	9.2%
2020	3,160	10.3%
2021	2,984	9.8%
2022	2,818	9.2%
2023	2,927	9.6%
2024	3,506	11.5%
2025partial year	2,596	8.5%

Which technologies does Apple Inc. patent most?

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 11,007

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 6,306

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 5,438

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 2,614

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 2,522

H04B - Transmission 2,286

H04M - Telephonic Communication 2,103

Y02D - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN Information AND Communication Technologies [ICT], I.E. Information AND Communication Technologies Aiming AT THE Reduction OF Their OWN Energy USE 1,643

G09G - Arrangements OR Circuits FOR Control OF Indicating Devices Using Static Means TO Present Variable Information 1,625

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 1,367

H04R - Loudspeakers, Microphones, Gramophone Pick-ups OR Like Acoustic Electromechanical TRANSDUCERS; Deaf-aid SETS; Public Address Systems 1,244

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 1,177

H05K - Printed CIRCUITS; Casings OR Constructional Details OF Electric APPARATUS; Manufacture OF Assemblages OF Electrical Components 1,082

G06Q - Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 980

Y10T - Technical Subjects Covered BY Former US Classification 756

Top 15 of 315 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

Apple Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

Apple Inc.'s lead technology class is G06F (Electric Digital Data Processing), 36% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G06F
Ranked #6 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Apple Inc. is a top-10 global holder - see how it stacks up against Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., another of the largest patent portfolios. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 79.0/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent , US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.