Amid a sharp demand-supply gap, the global smartphone application processor (AP) market grew 23 percent to $30.8 billion in 2021, a new report said.
According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Qualcomm retained its smartphone AP leadership with a 38 percent revenue share, followed by MediaTek and Apple with 26 percent.
Apple, MediaTek, Qualcomm and Unisoc gained market share, while HiSilicon and Samsung LSI lost share.
“For the first time on an annualized basis, MediaTek overtook Qualcomm in units and established over 75 million unit-leads in smartphone APs in 2021,” said Shravan Kundojjala, Director of Handset Component Technologies Services at Strategy Analytics.
MediaTek leveraged Qualcomm’s defocus on mid- and low-tier 4G LTE APs and gained volume share.
Despite the loss of unit share Crown, Qualcomm exited 2021 with 43 percent more revenue than MediaTek, thanks to an increased mix of higher-priced premiums and higher-end APs,” Kundozzala said.
Both companies performed well in the 5G AP segment and posted a 13-year high in their AP Average Selling Prices (ASPs). 5G-connected AP shipments grew 84 percent year-on-year, accounting for 46 percent of total smartphone APs shipped in 2021.
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The report said that shipments of APs with on-device artificial intelligence (AI) engines crossed 900 million in 2021, which is almost flat compared to 2020.
The best-selling Android AI APs include the Snapdragon 888/888+, 765/G, 750G and 662 and the Dimensity 700. TSMC manufactured three of the four smartphone APs shipped in 2021. In addition, semiconductor foundries, including TSMC and Samsung Foundry, held up well despite supply constraints and helped the industry capture growth.
Google entered the smartphone AP market in 2021 with its Pixel Tensor chip, capturing about 0.1 percent of the unit and revenue share.
“For the first time in the past six years, Samsung shipped less than 100 million APs in 2021. However, Samsung could capture market share in 2022 with its new Exynos 1280 mid-range 5G AP,” Kundozzala said.
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