MediaTek Still the Leader in the Smartphone SoC Market in Q3, Competes with Qualcomm

MediaTek is still the leader of the smartphone system-on-chip (SoC) market segment in Q3 2021. Its share rose to 40%, according to industry experts. MediaTek is growing continuously, which makes it hard for Qualcomm to recover its top position. However, the California chipmaker is still the leader in the segment of 5G smartphone devices. Dual sourcing from foundries is also helping Qualcomm grow quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year in SoC shipments of smartphones.

MediaTek’s market share increased to 40% in Q3 2021 from 33% in Q3 2020, the reasons being its success in 5G SoCs and exceptional demand for 4G chips it manufactures. The Taiwanese firm’s share grew in the low-mid 5G SoC segment, although its 4G LTE SoCs also contributed to its success.

The Q3 market share of Qualcomm, on the other hand, fell by 1% to 27%. The firm still grew 9% sequentially, also because of its strategy of dual sourcing from foundries. Its SoC shipments also increased both Q-to-Q and Y-to-Y in Q3.

Counterpoint market research firm also predicts that Qualcomm will show certain gains in Q4 due to its refresh portfolio that includes the Snapdragon 7, 6 and 4 series.

In Q3 Apple preserved its third place in the market, with a 15% share. The firm increased its share by 3% and will probably exhibit further growth in Q4. The growth is likely to originate from the iPhone 13 series launch and the holiday season. Component shortages, however, are expected to affect Apple's festive season sales.

Chinese company Unisoc is also preserving its growth momentum in Q3 for the third consecutive quarter, acquiring a double-digit market share at 10%. The company grew its customer base by bringing a number of brands, including Motorola, Transsion, ZTE, Honor and Realme on board. In addition, it began selling its SoC for Galaxy A series by Samsung.

However, in Q3 Samsung is reported to have dropped from 4th to 5th position. This major market player from South Korea now has a 5% share through Samsung Exynos chips.

Counterpoint reports that Samsung was about to revamp its smartphone portfolio strategy, which entailed in-sourcing and outsourcing to original design manufacturers (ODMs) in China. That helped MediaTek and Qualcomm to grow across Samsung's smartphone portfolio, both in the mid-range with 4G and 5G ODM-manufactured models to flagship devices.

Huawei's HiSilicon is still falling in the smartphone SoC market internationally and is down to 2% from 13% in Q3. The company could not manufacture its new HiSilicon Kirin SoCs because of the trade ban imposed by the USA, and the existing Kirin chipset inventory is about to be exhausted.

Overall, global SoC shipments grew six percent year-on-year in the third quarter, as per Counterpoint. 5G smartphone SoC shipments grew almost two times compared to the same period last year.

While Qualcomm topped the rating of 5G smartphone baseband modem shipments, MediaTek was number two and Samsung – number three.