Samsung Electronics has overtaken Apple as the world’s most innovative company. Despite the long-term slump in its flagship semiconductor business, the company’s record-breaking investments to secure future growth drivers and its patent holdings were highly evaluated.
Samsung Electronics scored 9.25 out of 10 points for innovation, ranking first overall, according to a report by U.S. forex trading platform Forex.com on Nov. 23. Apple came in second with a score of 9.03. A large number of technology patents significantly helped Samsung become the world’s most innovative company. Last year, Samsung registered 8,513 global patents, far surpassing second-ranked IBM, which registered 4,743 global patents. Apple, which came in second overall with a score of 9.25, registered 2,313 global patents.
The two global smartphone market leaders also compete in technology investment. In terms of overall investment, Apple is ahead of the Korean smartphone giant. In 2022, Apple spent US$29.369 billion on research and development (R&D), while Samsung invested US$20.133 billion. Apple’s R&D spending surged 84% over the five-year period from 2018 to 2022, while Samsung’s climbed 20%.
As a percentage of total revenue, Samsung outweighed Apple in R&D investment. Samsung spent 9.8% of its US$205 billion in revenue on R&D in 2022, compared to 7.6% of Apple’s US$383 billion. Amazon, the largest R&D investor, posted US$81.724 billion in total in R&D investments last year.
In third place overall was IBM with a score of 8.33. Johnson & Johnson (8.23) and Toyota (8.22) rounded out the top four. Amazon (8.12) and Microsoft tied for sixth place, followed by Sony (8.07), Intel (7.85), and RTX (7.58).
Of the total R&D investment of the 41 Korean companies in the Global 2500, Samsung Electronics accounts for 49.1%. In the first three quarters of this year, the Korean tech giant’s R&D investment as a%age of revenue was 10.9%, the first double-digit figure ever. Samsung Electronics holds a total of 239,605 global patents.