Smartphone AP share of all price ranges decreased compared to the previous year The proportion of adoption of Qualcomms and MediaTeks application processors in the Android smartphone market has increased. In particular, the polarization of smartphones with a price of less than $299 became clear, with Qualcomm at the high price and MediaTek at the low price. On the other hand, while Samsung Electronics chip position has decreased compared to the previous year, the emergence of Googles own chip stands out.
The AP, which acts as the brain of the smartphone, is a key component that determines the performance of the smartphone. In the Android smartphone market, Qualcomm ‘Snapdragon’ MediaTek ‘Dimension City/Helio’ Samsung Electronics ‘Exynos’ It supplies AP under the name of Tiger’. Apple iOS smartphones are equipped with proprietary chips ‘A series’.
Qualcomm, Mediatek, market share increased from the previous year… MediaTek expands flagship market
According to Counterpoint Research, a market research company on the 21st, MediaTek ranked first with a 46% share in the Android smartphone AP market last year, and Qualcomm ranked second with a 35% share.
MediaTek was strong in the sub-$299 smartphone market. In particular, LTE smartphones led the price range below $99, while MediaTek recorded a 62% share. In smartphones priced between $100 and $299, MediaTek accounted for more than half with a 52% market share. MediaTek is evaluated to have led the popularization of 5G smartphones by supplying ‘Dimension City 700’ and ‘Dimension City 800’ supporting 5G communication. This allowed Chinese manufacturers such as Realme, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo to launch 5G smartphones at a price of less than $200.
The proportion of APs installed by Android smartphone price in 2021
MediaTeks market share in mid-range smartphones also increased significantly last year. MediaTek offers ‘dimencity 1100’, ‘dimencity 1200’ Through supply, the market share has quadrupled from 6% in 2020 to 24% last year.
This year, MediaTek is expected to expand its position by recording a 10% share in the flagship market. The ‘dimencity 9000’ launched in December last year will be installed in Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi smartphones priced over $500 this year.
MediaTek Dimension City 9000
Qualcomm last year ‘Snapdragon 7’ Series ‘, ‘ Snapdragon 8 Series ‘ By focusing on supply, it increased profitability in the high-end smartphone market. Qualcomm last year ‘Snapdragon 720G·778G·870’ Through supply, it recorded a 65% share in mid-range smartphones. This is an increase of 12 percentage points from the 53% share in 2020. Last year, smartphones over $500 were also supplied with Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 8 1st generation, recording 55%, an increase of 14 percentage points from 2020.
Samsung Exynos, a decline in all smartphone price points… Googles first appearance
Samsung Electronics Exynos showed a decline in market share in all smartphone prices last year compared to the previous year.
Samsung Electronics share in the mid-range market fell from 17% in 2020 to 7% in 2021, and in the mid-range market, it fell from 13% in 2020 to 6% in 2021. This is because Samsung Electronics was entrusted with the design of some models of the Galaxy A, F, and M last year through the development and production of the manufacturer. Samsungs outsourcing companies have increased the use of Qualcomm, MediaTek and UniSOC chips instead of Exynos.
In addition, the decrease in the proportion of Samsung Electronics mid-range and high-end smartphones replaced with Exynos when new models were launched also had an impact. As the Galaxy Note series was discontinued, the quantity of Exynos decreased, and as Snapdragon was installed in all foldable phone Z series, it led to a further decrease. In addition, the Galaxy S22 series, released in February of this year, seems to have reduced the number of Exynos mounts and increased the number of Snapdragons compared to the previous series.
Samsung Exynos
On the other hand, the emergence of Google stands out in the smartphone market priced over $500. Google installed its own chip ‘tensor’ for the first time in the Pixel 6 series of smartphones released last year. Tensor is a chip jointly developed with Samsung Electronics custom SoC team.
Googles Pixel Phone, which is mainly sold in the US market, has a market share of only 2% in the US. Chip share is insignificant. However, it is worth noting that Google is starting to use its own chips instead of the Snapdragon in the flagship market. Google is expected to continue to use its own chips.
Meanwhile, according to Counterpoint, in the overall smartphone AP market in the fourth quarter of last year, MediaTek ranked first, Qualcomm second, Apple third, UniSOC in fourth, Samsung Electronics in fifth, and HiSilicon in sixth place.
