mmWave Antenna-in-Package Patent Snapshot 2026
The mmWave Antenna-in-Package patent corpus is highly concentrated, with Apple Inc holding a commanding share among a small group of filers tracked across 29 patent families in scope. Annual filing activity peaked in 2017 and has eased steadily since, signaling a field that has moved from early-stage build-out toward selective, targeted filings by incumbents.
Apple leads a tightly held corpus with minimal competitive overlap
Apple Inc ranks first with 23 patent records, placing it well ahead of all other filers in this space. NXGen Partners IP LLC follows at 9 patent records, with Qorvo US Inc and the Research and Business Foundation of Sungkyunkwan University each recording 2 patent records, and STMicroelectronics rounding out the top five with 1.
The top five filers account for the entirety of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total — a concentration figure that underscores how few organizations have staked substantial claims in this specific technology intersection. There is a pronounced gap between Apple and the rest of the field; no second-tier cluster has emerged to challenge the leader.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple Inc | 23 | |
| 2 | NXGen Partners IP LLC | 9 | |
| 3 | Qorvo US Inc | 2 | |
| 4 | RES & BUSINESS FOUND SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV | 2 | |
| 5 | STMicroelectronics SA | 1 |
Apple’s visible position implies that system-level integration of mmWave antennas into consumer device packages has been treated primarily as a proprietary engineering advantage, with relatively limited cross-licensing or collaborative filing visible in this dataset. Challengers entering now face an established prior-art wall concentrated in antenna array and beam-steering subclasses.
The most recent 18–24 months of filings are subject to publication lag and will likely add records as applications publish; the apparent zero counts for 2025–2026 should not be read as confirmed inactivity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity has eased from a 2017 peak; antenna subclasses dominate the technology mix
The annual filing trend and the IPC technology composition together show a field that built its core patent base quickly around 2017 and has since narrowed its output, while remaining anchored in antenna-specific subclasses with limited coverage of adjacent packaging and circuit disciplines.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked at 9 records in 2017 and declined to low single digits by 2022–2024, consistent with a maturing or declining filing phase. Years 2025 and 2026 show zero records, but this reflects publication lag rather than confirmed inactivity — those years should be treated as incomplete.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01Q (Antennas) is the visible IPC class with 42 patent records, reflecting the antenna-array and beam-steering core of this technology. H04B (Transmission, general) follows at 16 records, while H01L (Semiconductor devices), H01P (Waveguides and microwave elements), H03F (Amplifiers), and H05K (Printed circuits and assemblies) each hold very small shares, indicating limited coverage of the packaging, amplification, and circuit-board integration layers.
↗ 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.
Electronic Device Antenna Arrays Mounted Against a…
An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more antennas and transceiver circuitry such as centimeter and millimeter wave transceiver circuitry (e.g., circuitry that transmits and receives antennas signals at frequencies greater than 10 GHz). The antennas may be arranged in a phased antenna array… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electronic Device With Millimeter Wave Antennas on… | 283 |
| 2 | Electronic Device With Millimeter Wave Antennas on… | 80 |
| 3 | Electronic Device Antenna Arrays Mounted Against a… | 57 |
| 4 | On-chip waveguide feeder for millimiter wave ics a… | 57 |
| 5 | Electronic Device With Millimeter Wave Antennas on… | 56 |
| 6 | Millimeter Wave Transmission Line Structures | 56 |
| 7 | Electronic device with millimeter wave antennas on… | 42 |
| 8 | Systems and Methods for Mitigating Polarization Loss | 41 |
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.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Apple Inc
Apple Inc leads with 23 patent records, concentrated in H01Q antenna subclasses — specifically array configurations (H01Q 21), general antenna structures (H01Q 1), and steerable antennas (H01Q 3). This focus reflects Apple’s system-integration strategy for mmWave in consumer devices. No momentum data indicates a recent surge, consistent with the broader field’s post-peak easing.
patent records: 23NXGen Partners IP LLC
NXGen Partners IP LLC holds 9 patent records and is the only filer in the corpus flagged as a new entrant with upward momentum — recording 5 recent patent records (trend: new entrant). Its technical emphasis spans H01Q 21 antenna arrays and H04B 7 transmission systems equally, suggesting a positioning that bridges antenna design and beamforming signal chain — a differentiated angle relative to Apple’s hardware-integration focus.
patent records: 9Frequently asked questions
The corpus analyzed here covers 29 patent families in scope. This is a relatively small and specialized dataset, which partly explains the extreme concentration among a handful of filers.
Apple Inc leads with 23 patent records, far ahead of the next-ranked filer, NXGen Partners IP LLC, which holds 9 patent records. The remaining top-five filers — Qorvo US Inc, the Research and Business Foundation of Sungkyunkwan University, and STMicroelectronics — each hold 1 to 2 patent records.
Annual filings peaked at 9 records in 2017 and have eased steadily since, reaching 1–2 records per year by 2022–2024. The lifecycle evidence characterizes the field as in a Decline stage. The zero counts for 2025 and 2026 reflect publication lag and should not be treated as confirmed inactivity.
H01Q (Antennas) is by far the largest class with 42 patent records, followed by H04B (Transmission, general) at 16. Adjacent classes such as H01L (Semiconductor devices), H01P (Waveguides and microwave elements), H03F (Amplifiers), H05K (Printed circuits and assemblies), H04L, and H04W each hold very few records.
The United States accounts for 41 patent records, making it the visible jurisdiction by a wide margin. France records 1 patent record. No other jurisdictions appear in the current evidence, indicating a US-centric filing strategy across the corpus.
The collaboration evidence shows no co-applicant filings within this corpus. Development appears to have been conducted through independent proprietary R&D, with no visible joint ventures, consortia, or academic-industry co-filings recorded.
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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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