5G Spectrum Sharing Patent Landscape 2026
Samsung Electronics commands an outsized position in 5G spectrum sharing, with the top five filers together accounting for 80% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output. The field reached peak annual volume around 2020 and has since plateaued, signalling a maturing but still actively contested technology space.
Samsung leads a highly concentrated field
Samsung Electronics holds the top position in 5G spectrum sharing with 5,193 patent families, more than 2.5 times the output of second-ranked Qualcomm (2,069 patent families). Apple (804), AT&T Intellectual Property I L. P. (467), and Intel (419) round out the top five.
The top five filers account for 80% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating an unusually tight concentration. A pronounced tier gap separates the top two — Samsung and Qualcomm — from the remaining field, with the third-ranked applicant holding less than 16% of Samsung’s total.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 5,193 | |
| 2 | Qualcomm Incorporated | 2,069 | |
| 3 | Apple Inc. | 804 | |
| 4 | AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I L P | 467 | |
| 5 | Intel Corporation | 419 | |
| 6 | InterDigital Patent Holdings Inc. | 316 | |
| 7 | Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ) | 122 | |
| 8 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 119 | |
| 9 | T-Mobile US Inc. | 115 | |
| 10 | Charter Communications Operating LLC | 106 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | LG Electronics Inc. | 105 | |
| 12 | MediaTek Inc. | 95 | |
| 13 | AT&T MOBILITY II LLC | 84 | |
| 14 | Nokia Technologies Oy | 77 | |
| 15 | Sony Group Corporation | 54 | |
| 16 | IDAC Holdings Inc. | 53 | |
| 17 | Lenovo (Beijing) Ltd. | 52 | |
| 18 | Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd. | 43 | |
| 19 | Sharp Corporation | 43 | |
| 20 | NTT DOCOMO Inc. | 41 |
Samsung’s and Qualcomm’s scale in wireless network resource allocation (H04W 72) and digital transmission (H04L 5) gives them deep defensive coverage across the core signalling and channel-access layers of spectrum sharing, creating high barriers for challengers seeking to design around the dominant technical approaches.
Filing counts for 2024–2026 are expected to rise as pending applications clear the publication queue; apparent declines in those years reflect publication lag rather than reduced R&D activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filings plateaued after a 2020 peak; wireless networking dominates the technology mix
Annual filing volumes and the IPC branch distribution together reveal both where the field has been and which technical sub-areas remain structurally under-served.
Annual filing trend
Filings grew sharply from 789 in 2017 to a peak of 1,628 in 2020, then eased and have held in the 1,100–1,500 range through 2023. The apparent drops in 2024 and 2025 reflect publication lag and should not be read as real decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H04W (wireless communication networks) is by far the dominant branch, reflecting the protocol-layer focus of spectrum sharing research. H04L (digital information transmission) forms a substantial secondary cluster. Branches such as H04J (multiplex communication) and G06N (AI models) hold markedly smaller shares, pointing to areas where coverage is comparatively sparse.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Scheduling Restriction Enhancements for LTE and 5G…
Methods and devices for a base station acting as a primary cell to perform dual spectrum sharing (DSS) with a first user equipment device (UE) over a 5G NR connection and a second UE over an LTE connection. The first UE establishes the 5G NR connection with the primary cell and one or more secondary cells. One of the secondary cells is configured in the 5G… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spectral sensing and allocation using deep machine… | 549 |
| 2 | Cellular system | 414 |
| 3 | Reference signal and control information processin… | 359 |
| 4 | Method and apparatus for UE signal transmission in… | 353 |
| 5 | Method and apparatus for transmitting group messag… | 326 |
| 6 | Device, system and method employing unified flexib… | 309 |
| 7 | Random access process in new radio | 278 |
| 8 | Methods of autonomous resource selection in new ra… | 267 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the patent structure means for R&D investment decisions
The concentration, maturity, and collaboration patterns in this corpus shape the risk and opportunity profile for any team entering or expanding in 5G spectrum sharing.
Field is maturing: annual volume has eased from its 2020 peak
Annual filings peaked in 2020 at 1,628 and have plateaued in the 1,100–1,500 range since, consistent with a maturing technology lifecycle. Core channel-access and resource-scheduling approaches are now heavily patented. New entrants are most likely to find traction in adjacent or application-specific sub-areas rather than in the crowded core protocols.
Lifecycle: MaturityTwo-tier market: Samsung and Qualcomm far ahead of the rest
The top five filers hold 80% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output, and a sharp gap separates Samsung (5,193 patent families) and Qualcomm (2,069 patent families) from everyone else. Challengers Intel (+19% momentum), InterDigital (3.0× recent growth vs. prior period), and Ericsson each represent distinct strategic postures but operate at a fraction of the leaders’ scale.
High concentrationCo-filing clusters around AT&T’s internal entities and Samsung’s Korean university network
The most active co-filing pair is AT&T Intellectual Property I L.P. with AT&T Mobility II LLC (62 joint filings), reflecting AT&T’s practice of distributing IP across group entities. Samsung Electronics co-files with Korea University (18 joint filings), Seoul National University R&DB Foundation (8), and Yonsei University (5), signalling structured academic R&D pipelines. Intel and Intel IP Corp account for 10 joint filings, another intra-group pattern worth tracking for licensing exposure.
Ecosystem co-filingUS and EPO lead; India emerges as a notable secondary office
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction, followed by the EPO and WIPO PCT routes. India ranks fourth, ahead of China and Japan, which is unusual for a 5G topic and may reflect strategic filing by US-based operators anticipating the Indian market. South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan form a secondary tier of protection.
US-centric, India risingGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T知识产权一部有限合伙公司 | AT&T移动第二有限责任公司 | 62 |
| AT&T知识产权一部有限合伙公司 | AT&T TECHNICAL SERVICES CO INC | 20 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 高丽大学校产学协力团 | 18 |
| AT&T知识产权一部有限合伙公司 | AT&T知识产权二部有限合伙公司 | 13 |
| Intel Corporation | Intel IP Corporation | 10 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Samsung Research China – Beijing | 9 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Seoul National University R&DB Foundation | 8 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 延世大学校产学协力团 | 5 |
| IDAC Holdings Inc. | InterDigital Patent Holdings Inc. | 4 |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 成均馆大学校产学协力团 | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Samsung and Qualcomm dominate; InterDigital shows the fastest recent momentum
The top two players share the same core technology emphasis but diverge sharply in recent filing trajectory. Several challengers are repositioning, with InterDigital accelerating while Qualcomm and Apple pull back.
Samsung Electronics
Samsung holds 5,193 patent families — the largest portfolio in this space by a wide margin — concentrated in H04W 72 (wireless resource allocation, 4,612 records), H04L 5 (digital transmission, 2,201 records), and H04W 74 (random access, 1,310 records). Its recent filing momentum is +138% versus the prior three-year period, a trajectory that, combined with co-filings with multiple Korean universities, suggests sustained and expanding R&D commitment rather than portfolio maintenance.
families: 5,193InterDigital Patent Holdings
InterDigital Patent Holdings holds 316 patent families and is the standout by momentum, posting 3.0× recent filings versus its prior three-year period. Its technology focus mirrors the field’s core (H04W 72, H04W 74, H04L 5), but its licensing-oriented business model means growing volume here directly strengthens its 5G standards-essential patent position. IDAC Holdings, a related entity with 53 patent families, shows a contrasting -78% trend, suggesting portfolio restructuring within the InterDigital group.
families: 316| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 2,676 | ▲ +138% |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 249 | ▼ -77% |
| Apple Inc. | 140 | ▼ -71% |
| AT&T知识产权一部有限合伙公司 | 88 | ▼ -68% |
| Intel Corporation | 204 | ▲ +19% |
| IDAC Holdings Inc. | 20 | ▼ -78% |
| InterDigital Patent Holdings Inc. | 99 | ▲ 3.0× vs prior 3-yr |
| Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Publ) | 21 | ▼ -74% |
Multiplex communication and AI-driven spectrum management are under-served branches
Against the dense core of H04W and H04L filings, two IPC branches show comparatively sparse coverage relative to their technical relevance to spectrum sharing.
H04J · Multiplex Communication
H04J covers multiplexing schemes — OFDM, NOMA, and carrier aggregation techniques — that are directly relevant to how 5G shares spectrum across multiple users and bands. Despite this technical overlap, H04J holds a small share of the corpus. Teams working on novel waveform-level or multi-carrier sharing mechanisms may find this branch less crowded than the H04W core. The realistic entry path involves framing innovations at the signal-layer rather than the network-protocol layer, which is where the bulk of existing filings concentrate.
Search this in Eureka →G06N · AI and Machine Learning Models
G06N covers machine-learning and AI computational models, and its small share in this corpus stands out given the growing body of research applying deep reinforcement learning and neural networks to dynamic spectrum access and interference prediction. The most-cited patent in the corpus is itself titled ‘Spectral sensing and allocation using deep machine learning’, signalling that the technical value of AI-driven approaches is already recognised by peers. Filing activity in G06N for this application remains sparse, suggesting room for teams with AI and radio resource management expertise to establish positions before the space fills.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H04W 72 · Wireless communication networks | H04L 5 · Digital information transmission | H04W 74 · Wireless communication networks | H04L 1 · Digital information transmission | H04W 16 · Wireless communication networks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Strong · 4,612 | Moderate · 2,201 | Moderate · 1,310 | Moderate · 964 | Emerging · 481 |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | Strong · 1,579 | Strong · 803 | Moderate · 777 | Moderate · 353 | Moderate · 475 |
| Apple Inc. | Strong · 504 | Moderate · 247 | Moderate · 239 | Moderate · 111 | Moderate · 117 |
| Intel Corporation | Strong · 375 | Moderate · 185 | Moderate · 85 | Moderate · 120 | Emerging · 41 |
| AT&T Intellectual Property I L.P. | Strong · 409 | Moderate · 144 | Absent | Emerging · 79 | Moderate · 102 |
| IDAC Holdings Inc. | Strong · 126 | Strong · 64 | Strong · 73 | Moderate · 34 | Absent |
| InterDigital Patent Holdings Inc. | Strong · 134 | Moderate · 55 | Moderate · 60 | Moderate · 33 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 10,746 patent families in scope, with the United States as the leading filing jurisdiction.
Samsung Electronics holds the largest portfolio at 5,193 patent families, more than 2.5 times the second-ranked applicant, Qualcomm, which holds 2,069 patent families.
The top five filers — Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm, Apple, AT&T Intellectual Property I L.P., and Intel — account for 80% of the combined total of the hundred largest filers, indicating very high concentration.
Annual filings peaked in 2020 and have since plateaued rather than grown further, placing the field in a maturity stage. Filing counts for 2024–2026 appear lower due to publication lag and do not reflect actual R&D output for those years.
H04W (wireless communication networks) is by far the dominant branch, followed by H04L (digital information transmission) and H04B (transmission, general). Together these three branches account for the large majority of filings.
Samsung Electronics shows the strongest absolute momentum at +138% in recent filings versus the prior three-year period. InterDigital Patent Holdings has posted 3.0× recent filings versus its prior period, the most notable acceleration among mid-tier players. By contrast, Qualcomm (-77%), Apple (-71%), and IDAC Holdings (-78%) have all pulled back sharply in recent years.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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