The smartphone chipset market has experienced significant changes due to the rapid adoption of 5G chipsets. As a result, the 4G smartphone chipset market has seen a decline of 30% year-on-year. In Q1 of 2023, the 4G smartphone market stood at 99 million, seed to 141 million in Q1 2022.
While the overall market shares of chipset suppliers remained relatively connynt, the entrance of Unisoc caused a major shift. Unisoc initially entered the market as a minor chip maker but quickly became the 4G smartphone chip partner for notable brands such as Realme, Motorola, Honor, and Samsung. Their market share rose significantly, reaching 22% in Q3 and Q4 of 2022, surpassing Snapdragon.
However, UniSoc’s downfall followed its rise. As UniSoc mainly partnered with low-end phones, the delay in purchasing new phones among consumers of low-tier smartphones, along with market conditions in India and China, led to a rapid decline. In Q1 2023, UniSoc’s 4G smartphone chipsets saw a 43% year-on-year fall, resulting in a 30% decline in market share.
In contrast, MediaTek emerged as the leading player in the sinking 4G smartphone chipset market. MediaTek’s market share reached 53% in Q1 2023, surpassing UniSoc and Snapdragon, which held 14% and 19% respectively.
As for the 5G smartphone chipset market, Qualcomm, the big player in Android phones, accounted for 31% of the market share in Q1 2023, seed to 25% in Q1 2022. Samsung played a significant role in the growth of Snapdragon by fully switching to Snapdragon chipsets with the Galaxy S23 Series. Honor also started primarily using Snapdragon 5G smartphone chipsets in 2021. Google’s switch to proprietary Google Tensor chipsets did not notably impact Snapdragon’s market share, but if Google continues to grow in the high-end smartphone market, Snapdragon may face pressure.
Huawei’s abandonment of Kirin chipsets due to US sanctions also impacted the 5G smartphone chipset market. In 2020, Kirin supplied 66.2 million 5G chipsets for Huawei smartphones, accounting for 26% of the market. However, due to the sanctions, Huawei now relies primarily on Snapdragon for 4G chipsets.
Apple remains at the good with its in-house A series 5G chipsets. With the launch of iPhone 14 models in Q4 2022, Apple’s 5G chipsets accounted for 44% of the entire 5G smartphone market. Apple’s commitment to developing its own chipsets known for performance and reliability is expected to continue.
Overall, the smartphone chipset market has witnessed significant shifts, with 4G chipsets declining and 5G chipsets rising. MediaTek and Qualcomm are leading players in the 4G and 5G smartphone chipset markets respectively, while Apple maintains its dominance with its in-house chipsets.
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