It’s difficult to narrow down a list of the “top” 10 patents held by Apple as it depends on how you define “top.” Here is a list of 10 patents that are notable and important to Apple’s products or business:
- The “Slide to Unlock” patent: This patent, granted in 2013, covers the slide-to-unlock feature found on many iOS devices.
- The “QuickType” patent: This patent covers the predictive text feature found on many iOS devices.
- The “Siri” patent: This patent covers the natural language processing technology used in Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant.
- The “Force Touch” patent: This patent covers the technology used in the Force Touch trackpad found on newer MacBook models.
- The “Apple Pay” patent: This patent covers the technology used in Apple’s mobile payment system.
- The “Digital Crown” patent: This patent covers the digital crown found on the Apple Watch, which is used to navigate through the watch’s interface.
- The “AirDrop” patent: This patent covers the technology used in Apple’s file-sharing feature, AirDrop.
- The “iCloud” patent: This patent covers the technology used in Apple’s cloud storage and synchronization service, iCloud.
- The “Face ID” patent: This patent covers the technology used in Apple’s facial recognition system, Face ID.
- The “Retina Display” patent: This patent covers the high-resolution display technology used in many of Apple’s devices.
Note: Some of the patents mentioned here may have expired or been invalidated over time.