MediaTek surpassed Qualcomm to become the biggest smartphone chipset vendor in Q3 2020, according to a report by Counterpoint Research.
MediaTek held a 31 per cent market share in Q3 in the smartphone chipset market, followed by Qualcomm with a 29 per cent market share.
“MediaTek’s strong market share gain in Q3 2020 happened due to three reasons – strong performance in the mid-end smartphone price segment ($100-$250) and emerging markets like LATAM and MEA, the US ban on Huawei and finally wins in leading OEMs like Samsung, Xiaomi and Honor,” said Research Director Dale Gai.
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Gai added, “On the other hand, Qualcomm also posted strong share gains (from a year ago) in the high-end segment in Q3 2020, again thanks to HiSilicon’s supply issues. However, Qualcomm faced competition from MediaTek in the mid-end segment. We believe both will continue to compete intensively through aggressive pricing, and mainstream 5G SoC products into 2021.”
Qualcomm, however, was the biggest chipset vendor for 5G smartphone in Q3 2020. It powered 39 per cent of the 5G phones sold worldwide.
“Qualcomm and MediaTek have both reshuffled their portfolios, and consumer focus has played a key role here. Last year, MediaTek launched a new gaming-based G-series, while Dimensity chipsets have helped in bringing 5G to affordable categories. The world’s cheapest 5G device, the realme V3, is powered by MediaTek,” said Research Analyst Ankit Malhotra.
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“The immediate focus of chipset vendors will be to bring 5G to the masses, which will then unlock the potential of consumer 5G use cases like cloud gaming, which in turn will lead to higher demand for higher clocked GPUs and more powerful processors. Qualcomm and MediaTek will continue to contend for the top position,” Malhotra said.