Taiwan's MediaTek Expanding Market Presence
Market research firm Counterpoint Research said on March 21 that MediaTek ranked first in the Android smartphone AP market in 2021 with a 46 percent share, followed by Qualcomm with a 35 percent share.
MediaTek was strong in the segment of models under US$299. In particular, LTE smartphones led the market in the price range below US$99, with MediaTek posting a 62 percent share. MediaTek accounted for 52 percent of the smartphones priced between US$1 and US$299. Experts say that MediaTek led the popularization of 5G smartphones by supplying Demensity 700 and Demensity 800 chips that support 5G telecommunications. These chips helped Chinese manufacturers such as Realmi, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo release 5G smartphones at prices below US$200.
MediaTek saw its market share surge in the segment of mid-range smartphones in 2021. Its market share quadrupled from 6 percent in 2020 to 24 percent in 2021 through the supply of Dimensity 1100 and Dimensity 1200 chips for smartphones priced between US$300 and US$499.
MediaTek is also expected to expand its presence in 2022 by logging a 10 percent share in the flagship market. Launched in December 2021, the Demensity 9000 will go into Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi smartphones priced above US$500 in 2022.
Qualcomm increased its profitability in the high-priced smartphone market in 2021 by supplying the Snapdragon 7 series and the Snapdragon 8 series. It enjoyed a 65 percent share in the market of mid-range smartphones (US$300-US$499) with the Snapdragon 720G, 778G, 870. This is an increase of 12 percentage points from 53 percent in 2020. In 2021, Qualcomm supplied the 888 Snapdragon and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for smartphones worth more than US$500, up 14 percentage points from 41 percent in 2020.
The Samsung Electronics Exynos’ shares sank in all smartphone price ranges in 2021.
Samsung's share fell from 17 percent in 2020 to 7 percent in 2021 in the low-end smartphone segment, down to 6 percent in 2021 from 13 percent in 2020 in the mid-range segment. One reason is that Samsung outsourced the production of part of low and medium-priced models Galaxy A, F and M in 2021. Samsung’s partners increased the use of Qualcomm, MediaTek and UniSOC chips instead of the Exynos.
In addition, it was also attributable to the fact that Samsung pruned the proportion of Exynos chips in its new mid- and high-priced smartphones. The discontinuation of the Galaxy Note series reduced the use of the Exynos, and the installation of the Snapdragon in all foldable phone Z series led to a further decrease in the use of the Exynos. In addition, the company is believed to have reduced the use of the Exynos and ramp up the use of the Snapdragon for the Galaxy S22 series, released in February.
On the other hand, Google showed an impressive business performance in the premium end of the smartphone market (above US$500). Google loaded its own chip Tensor into its smartphone Pixel 6 series released in 2021. Tensor was jointly developed with Samsung Electronics’ Custom SoC Team.
Google Pixel phones, sold mainly in the U.S. market, account for only 2 percent of the smartphone market in the United States, so the share of Tensor chips is still meager. However, it is worth noting that Google has begun to use its own chip instead of the Snapdragon in the flagship market. The global search giant is expected to continue to use its own chips in its smartphone models down the road.
Meanwhile, MediaTek led the overall smartphone AP market in the fourth quarter of 2021 with a 33 percent share, followed by Qualcomm with 30 percent, Apple with 21 percent, UniSOC with 11 percent, Samsung Electronics with 4 percent and HiSilicone with 1 percent, according to Counterpoint.