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Which Manufacturer is Winning the Smartphone Patent War?

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Which Smartphone Maker is Winning the Patent War?

Which Smartphone Maker is Winning the Patent War?

Ever since the dawn of the smartphone era, hardware makers such as Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, LG, and Nokia have been engaged in a costly patents arms race. Every new patent on file furthers the case for the manufacturer’s legitimacy. Without any of this ammo, a manufacturer must capitulate against the crushing legal forces touted by the big boys.

The legal battles have costed manufacturers billions and there are no shortage of examples of companies posturing in the patent arena. In 2011, Google bought Motorola primarily because it valued the company’s patents at $5.5 billion. Meanwhile, Microsoft made more money from patent licenses in 2013 than it did in licenses for its actual Windows Phone. A recent study estimated that for a $400 smartphone, the cost of royalties alone is more than $120 – at least equal to the value of the components themselves.

Steve Jobs even famously claimed that the Android itself was “grand theft” from Apple. “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40bn in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this,” Jobs said.

This infographic sums up the most recent stats in the smartphone patent war.

If you were to ask us who is winning? Probably the lawyers.

Original graphic from: Protect Your Bubble

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Visualizing Internet Usage by Global Region

In this infographic, we map out internet usage by global region based on the latest data from the World Bank.

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Map showing internet usage by region.

Visualizing Internet Usage by Global Region

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Digital technologies have become an integral part of our daily lives, transforming communications, business, health, education, and more. Yet, billions of people around the world are still offline, and digital advancement has been uneven.

Here, we map internet usage by region based on data from the World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023.

Digitalization Has Been Uneven

According to the World Bank, between 2018 and 2022, the world gained 1.5 billion new internet users.

In 2020 alone, the share of the global population using the internet increased by 6% (500 million people), marking the highest jump in history. India, in particular, has seen high rates of adoption. For example, in 2018, only 20% of Indians used the internet. By 2022, this percentage had grown to more than 50%.

RegionIndividuals using the internet (% of population)
East Asia & Pacific74
Europe & Central Asia87
Latin America & the Caribbean76
Middle East & North Africa77
North America92
South Asia42
Sub-Saharan Africa34

However, the progress of digitalization has been uneven both within and across countries.

In 2022, one-third of the global population remained offline, with parts of Asia and Africa still experiencing very low rates of internet usage. For instance, more than half of businesses in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Senegal reportedly lack internet connection.

According to the World Bank’s report, when fast internet becomes available, the probability of an individual being employed increases by up to 13%, and total employment per firm increases by up to 22%. Moreover, firm exports nearly quadruple with the availability of fast internet. Across Africa, 3G coverage has been associated with a reduction in extreme poverty, with reductions of 10% seen in Senegal and 4.3% in Nigeria.

Curious to learn more about the internet? Check out this animated chart that shows the most popular web browsers since 1994.

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