Smartphones: Substantial Returns Driven by Intangible Capital

Apple and Samsung dominate the market for high-end phones that cost more than USD 400, with market shares of 57 percent and 25 percent, respectively. In this segment, crucial intangible assets include technology, the design of hardware and software, and branding. The WIPR 2017 finds that for every iPhone 7 that Apple sells for approximately USD 810, about 42 percent of the sales price is captured by Apple – a proxy for the high returns from intangible capital in the industry. Huawei and Samsung also capture significant value in their top-end smartphone models, despite their lower consumer prices and sales volume.

The WIPR 2017 also finds that component makers - like Corning Inc., the producer of iPhone Gorilla Glass – and technology providers including Nokia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc., use intangible assets to capture substantial value.

Smartphone firms and technology providers rely heavily on patents, trademarks and industrial designs, generating a high return on their intangible capital. Indeed, in the domain of patents, up to 35 percent of all first filings worldwide may relate to smartphones. The report finds that the 4th-generation (4G) cellular standard used today is associated with close to four times more patents than the 2nd-generation standard.

Another particularly fast growing area of filing activity concerns graphical user interfaces (GUIs), such as icons for mobile apps. For example, Apple filed 222 designs on GUIs at the European Union Intellectual Property Office between 2009 and 2014, while Samsung filed 379.