With patent wars intensifying among smartphone manufacturers of late, it is quite likely that these patent lawsuits may bring about an increase in costs for mobile devices’ makers - thereby leading to higher gadget prices for both the wireless carriers as well as the consumers.

Going by the patent-lawsuits-related statistics forwarded by Bloomberg, two of the most innovative smartphone makers – Apple and HTC – have already filed more patent lawsuits thus far this year than what they had filed in the whole of 2007.

The most notable of the patent-infringement lawsuits being pursued at present include – Apple’s March-filed complaint against Taiwan-based HTC, alleging infringement of 20 patents pertaining to touch and menu controls; and HTC’s last week-filed counter-complaint, accusing Apple of infringing 5 patents related to power management and directory technology.

In addition, Microsoft is also pursuing patent payments from firms making smartphones based on the Google Android software; and Nokia filed its most recent complaint against Apple on May 7, alleging that Apple’s iPhone and iPad violate five Nokia patents.

With industry research indicating that almost 8,000 patents, held by 41 companies, are applicable specifically to the 3G wireless communications capabilities of the handsets, Boston-based consultant Strategy Analytics had opined that patent holders are looking at a bigger chunk of smartphone revenues, which rose 27 percent to $61 billion last year, and are on track to increase another 30 percent this year.