Market research agency Counterpoint recently announced the ranking of global mobile phone chip market revenue share in the first quarter of this year. Qualcomm's market share far exceeds that of MediaTek, which is completely reversed from the two shares calculated based on shipments. The data released by
counterpoint shows that in the first quarter of this year, Qualcomm held a 44% share of the mobile phone chip market in terms of revenue share, while MediaTek only held a 19% share. Qualcomm's share was more than twice that of MediaTek.
In the same period, if calculated in terms of shipments, MediaTek held a 38% market share in the global mobile phone chip market, while Qualcomm held a 30% market share. MediaTek has maintained its leading position since surpassing Qualcomm in annual shipments for the first time in 2020. .
The reason why MediaTek lags far behind Qualcomm in terms of revenue share may be that the chips shipped by MediaTek are mainly mid- to low-end chips, while Qualcomm occupies the majority of the market share in the high-end chip market, but MediaTek’s chips are priced at the same level of chips But it lags far behind Qualcomm in terms of performance. Industry insiders point out that even after MediaTek doubled the price of its high-end chip Dimensity 9000, it is still cheaper than Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8G1, let alone mid- and low-end chips that rely on price advantages to seize the market.
Another reason why Qualcomm gains more revenue is that Apple only uses Qualcomm's baseband chips. People in the industry know that Apple has extremely high requirements for chips, so Apple is willing to pay a high price for new baseband chips, relying on Apple as a major customer. Qualcomm ensures a large amount of revenue every year, which is unmatched by MediaTek.
Qualcomm and MediaTek compete very fiercely in the global mobile phone chip market. However, for now, Qualcomm still has the advantage in overseas markets, while MediaTek mainly gains advantages in the mainland Chinese market. This leads to completely different pricing strategies between the two.
For Qualcomm, Samsung and Apple, the world's two largest mobile phone companies with the highest average prices, have provided it with enough revenue, so it is not too nervous about grabbing the mid-to-low-end mobile phone chip market for Chinese mobile phones. The primary consideration is profit. , naturally unwilling to engage in a fierce price war with MediaTek.
On the other hand, patents bring advantages to Qualcomm. Qualcomm’s main profits come from patent licensing. Even if you use MediaTek chips, you have to pay patent fees to Qualcomm. Qualcomm will give patent fee discounts to mobile phone companies that use its chips. Therefore, for high-end mobile phones, using MediaTek chips may lead to excessive patent fees. Therefore, most domestic high-end mobile phones use Qualcomm chips. Domestic mobile phones also need Qualcomm's patent protection when going to overseas markets. This is why domestic mobile phones have to pay Qualcomm for transportation.
MediaTek has not become a supplier to Apple, and Samsung has only used its chips in small quantities. These two more profitable mobile phone companies have not used MediaTek chips, which makes it difficult for MediaTek to increase its profits. Chinese mobile phone companies have always squeezed the supply chain. As we all know, in order to obtain orders for Chinese mobile phones, MediaTek had to keep its chip prices low enough, which resulted in its share of mobile phone chip revenue being far lower than Qualcomm.
It can be said that China Mobile and MediaTek only have a mutually beneficial relationship. They both use each other as a means to check and balance Qualcomm. Qualcomm relies on its patent advantages and the support of the two major overseas mobile phone companies to maintain its position on the Diaoyutai. However, as MediaTek captures more market share, Qualcomm Still feeling the pressure of competition, Qualcomm has cut prices on some chips to gain support for Chinese mobile phones.
