CPC technology class · H04

H04M - Telephonic Communication

Telephonic communication. 49,631 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

49,631
US patents granted: #5/12
in H04: 4.8%
H04 class share: -28%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Telephonic Communication ranks #36 of 670 CPC technology areas - 49,631 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 28% over five years.

#36
of 670 CPC technology areas: 49,631
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Samsung
leading assignee (4,133): -28%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How H04M's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, H04M recorded 19,434 grants versus 26,975 in 2015–2019 (-28% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2017 at 5,738 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 3,324 (+73% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. holds 8.3% of the class ; the top three share 15.3%.

Leaderboard read

H04M concentration, lead at 8.3%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. leads this historical grant record at 8.3% of H04M - us corporation assignees hold 55% of class grants (23,118 of 41,742). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 8.3%
Top three share: 15.3%
Lead over #2: 2,030

Where H04M sits inside H04

Among 12 subclasses in H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04M ranks #5 and holds 4.8% of the parent class's 1,028,415 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

H04L 373,517 H04W 236,882 H04N 191,323 H04B 101,407 H04R 33,502 H04J 16,888 H04Q 10,225 H04S 7,918

Rising assignees active in H04M

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Meta Platforms, Inc. 376x 2 → 751 company-wide · 18 in H04M
#2 Block, Inc. 345x 1 → 345 company-wide · 7 in H04M
#3 Salesforce, Inc. 334x 3 → 1,001 company-wide · 23 in H04M
#4 Shenzhen Shokz Co., Ltd. 288x 0 → 288 company-wide · 43 in H04M
#5 Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Co., Ltd. 203x 0 → 203 company-wide · 11 in H04M

H04M grants by year, peak 2017 (5,738)

US utility-patent grants per year in H04M, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 28% versus 2015–2019.

Samsung

4,133
Apple

2,103
Lg

1,342
Huawei

1,077
International…

999
Google

969
At&T Intellectual…

952
Microsoft Technology…

904
Blackberry

596
Sony Group

576
Guangdong Oppo Mobile…

546
Telefonaktiebolaget…

512

What this shows Samsung is the most active filer in H04M, holding 4,133 of the 49,631 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass H04M
Rank	Company	Patents in H04M
#1	Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.	4,133
#2	Apple Inc.	2,103
#3	LG Electronics Inc.	1,342
#4	Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.	1,077
#5	International Business Machines Corporation	999
#6	Google LLC	969
#7	AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.	952
#8	Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC	904
#9	BlackBerry Limited	596
#10	Sony Group Corporation	576
#11	Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd.	546
#12	Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ)	512
#13	Kyocera Corporation	487
#14	Qualcomm Incorporated	484
#15	T-Mobile USA, Inc.	471
#16	Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.	463
#17	Amazon Technologies, Inc.	437
#18	Avaya Inc.	409
#19	Nokia Technologies OY	390
#20	United Services Automobile Association (USAA)	325

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading H04M assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 H04M assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in H04M. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near H04M's 49,631-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for H04M (#36 of 670 by volume ; lead share 8.3%) - not the H04 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

H02J 49,883 H10K 50,923 A61F 50,959 G05B 46,942

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B60K 8.3% A62B 8.3% F41B 8.3% B63G 8.3%

Questions about H04M

Which company holds the most patents in H04M?

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. leads H04M with 4,133 patents (8.3% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 55% of class grants.

Which H04M assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in H04M, Meta Platforms, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (376x: 2 grants in 2019–2021 → 751 in 2022–2024) while holding 18 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does H04M compare inside parent class H04?

Inside H04 (Electric Communication Technique), H04M ranks #5 of 12 subclasses by grant volume and holds 4.8% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is H04L (373,517 grants).

What to do with this data

H04M in context - here's where to go next.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. leads H04M with 4,133 grants in this class. See full portfolio
H04M ranks #36 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class H04, the largest sibling subclass is H04L with 373,517 grants. Explore H04L

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - H04M figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (49,631 grants in the tracked window).

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.