Up 55% in the first quarter of 2012 with Broadcom and MediaTek emerging as credible threats to Qualcomm
The global smartphone applications processor market showed solid double digit year on year growth in the first quarter of 2012 to reach $2.47 billion, according to new research.
Broadcom and MediaTek are emerging as credible threats to Qualcomm, the market leader, which saw its marketshare drop to 44% in the first quarter of 2012 from 51% in the first quarter 2011, as a result of the expanding market and competition from Broadcom and MediaTek, said research firm Strategy Analytics.
According to Strategy Analytics, with growth over the past 12 months of 55%, the smartphone apps processor market is leaping forward. Qualcomm continued its dominance of the marketplace and led the smartphone applications processor market in both unit and revenue terms in the first quarter.
The smartphone applications processor supply chain continues to show significant dynamism, reflecting ongoing changes in the smartphone manufacturer landscape, Strategy Analytics said. Qualcomm, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Broadcom and MediaTek grabbed the top five spots in the smartphone applications processor market in the quarter overall.
Marvell dropped out of top five smartphone applications processor rankings in the first quarter 2012 as a result of weakening position of its primary customer, BlackBerry manufacturer, RIM. Marvell's strong TD-SCDMA smartphone applications processor shipments at China Mobile were not sufficient to offset its declining shipments at RIM.
Broadcom continues to execute well its smartphone processor strategy and ranked number four in the quarter. Broadcom's high volume Android smartphone design wins at Samsung helped.
MediaTek, for the first time, featured in top five smartphone applications processor rankings on the strength of its strong momentum in the sub-$200 smartphone segment in China and other growth markets.
ST-Ericsson showed signs of rebound as the company's smartphone applications processor revenue registered over 600% sequential growth in Q1 2012. The company's Nova and NovaThor-branded applications processors gained strong traction at tier-one OEMs. Strategy Analytics continues to believe that ST-Ericsson's NovaThor baseband-integrated applications processors have the potential to be an attractive alternative to Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors.Standalone applications processors continue to gain share and accounted for 44% of total smartphone applications processors shipped in the first quarter, up from 39% in the same period 2011. This growth can be attributed to increasing mix of multi-core processors. Strategy Analytics estimates multi-core processors accounted for about 30% of total smartphone applications processors shipped in the first quarter this year.
According to Sravan Kundojjala, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics: 'Qualcomm maintained its lead position in the smartphone applications processor market in the first quarter 2012. Qualcomm's revenue share dropped to 44% in Q1 2012 from 51% in the first quarter 2011 as a result of expanding market size and intense competition from Broadcom and MediaTek in the low end Android smartphone market. Strategy Analytics believes Broadcom and MediaTek are emerging as credible threats to Qualcomm with their baseband-integrated applications processor strategy.'
According to Stuart Robinson, director of the Strategy Analytics' handset component technologies service: 'Despite its strong momentum in the tablet applications processor market, NVIDIA's smartphone applications processor marketshare continues to be a concern. Strategy Analytics estimates that NVIDIA's smartphone applications processor revenue share has been stagnant at 2% from the first quarter 2011. We believe NVIDIA continues to miss the large addressable market as it currently lacks baseband-integrated applications processors.'
