What just happened? MediaTek overtook Qualcomm to become the world’s largest supplier of smartphone chips in terms of market share. According to a recent report, more than 100 million smartphones with MediaTek were sold in the third quarter of 2020. This represents an increase of approximately five percent compared to sales from the previous year.
The information comes from research firm Counterpoint, which explains that MediaTek’s growth in key regions like China and India, combined with its strong performance in the $ 100-250 price range, are two main reasons for the company’s success in the third quarter of 2020.
MediaTek’s market share currently stands at 31%, placing it slightly ahead of Qualcomm’s 29% share.
Another reason for MediaTek’s growth is the US ban on Huawei, according to Counterpoint Research Director Dale Gai: “The share of MediaTek chipsets at Xiaomi has increased more than three times since the same period last year. MediaTek was also able to take advantage of the gap created due to the American ban on Huawei. Affordable MediaTek chips manufactured by TSMC have become the first option for many OEMs to quickly fill the gap left by Huawei’s absence. Huawei had also purchased a significant amount of chipsets before the ban. “
Meanwhile, Qualcomm was the largest supplier of 5G chipset during the third quarter of 2020, with Qualcomm chips powering 39% of 5G smartphones sold worldwide.
According to the report, demand for 5G handsets doubled in the third quarter of 2020. Further growth is expected, especially in light of Apple’s iPhone 12 capable 5G line. It is expected that a third of all smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter of 2020 will be enabled for 5G, so Qualcomm can regain first position in the next quarter.
Research analyst Ankit Malhotra said: “The immediate focus of chipset vendors will be to bring 5G to the masses, which will unlock the potential of 5G use cases for consumers, such as cloud games, which in turn will lead to greater demand for higher clocked GPUs and more powerful processors. Qualcomm and MediaTek will continue to strive for the top spot. “