The cellular baseband processor market fell 2 percent to $10.5 billion in the first half of 2016, says Strategy Analytics.
Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung LSI, Spreadtrum and HiSilicon captured the top-five baseband revenue share spots in H1 2016.
Despite increased competition, the US-based chipset major Qualcomm maintained its baseband market share leadership with 50 percent revenue share.
MediaTek has 23 percent share in the global baseband processor market.
Samsung LSI has 12 percent of the cellular baseband processor market.
LTE basebands posted strong double-digit growth, while 3G and 2G baseband segments declined sharply in H1 2016.
Qualcomm’s LTE unit share dropped to 54 percent in H1 2016, from 67 percent in the same period last year.
Strategy Analytics said Qualcomm showed signs of recovery with significant traction for its latest flagship chip Snapdragon 820, which has helped the company improve its ASP this year. Qualcomm is expected to continue to improve its baseband shipment mix through 2016 with the help of increased shipments of smartphone applications processors, partly due to Apple dual-sourcing modems for its new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
MediaTek’s LTE shipments more than doubled in H1 2016 compared to H1 2015. MediaTek’s LTE growth was fueled by its strong presence in China and other emerging markets and its strong mid-tier LTE product portfolio.
Except for Apple and Samsung almost all major handset manufacturers now use MediaTek’s LTE chips and we believe MediaTek will continue to gain share through 2016.
LTE baseband shipments accounted for over 50 percent of total baseband shipments in Q1 2016 and this trend continued in Q2 2016.
Qualcomm, MediaTek, Spreadtrum, Samsung LSI, HiSilicon and Intel benefited from this growth. Intel with its new LTE design-win at Apple is poised for share gains in H2 2016.
