Intel looks as if it’s finally getting its act together in the smartphone market. The chipmaker can now point to six phones that have launched this year with its Atom x86 Medfield chips inside, including — most recently — a partnership with Google-owned Motorola for a European handset, the Razr i. Other Intel-chipped devices are either carrier-branded and/or destined for European or Asian markets.
The U.S. has yet to see an Intel-powered phone launch — and a likely explanation is because its current smartphone chips don’t support LTE/4G. Intel says it will be introducing products this year (and next) that do support LTE but in the meanwhile chipmakers that jumped on 4G early are reaping the benefits of their foresight.
A Strategy Analytics report into the smartphone chip market notes that Intel took just 0.2 percent unit shipment share in 1H 2012, while Qualcomm, the leading chipmaker, grabbed a 48 percent revenue share in the first half of the year. Qualcomm’s LTE Snapdragon processor MSM8960 has been a big hit for the company, the analyst notes.
“The company’s high-end LTE Snapdragon processor MSM8960 gained strong traction and featured in multiple LTE flagships from global tier-one smartphone manufacturers,” writes Senior Analyst Sravan Kundojjala. “Qualcomm’s early LTE modem leadership has helped the company to stay ahead of the competition.”
Scores of devices pack the MSM8960 chip — including the Motorola Droid Razr M, Droid Razr HD, Razr Maxx HD, some models of Samsung’s Galaxy SIII flagship, the HTC One XL, HTC Evo 4G LTE, and various forthcoming Windows Phone-based handsets such as the Samsung Ativ S and the Nokia Lumia 820 and 920.
After Qualcomm, the next four smartphone chipmaker top spots were taken by Samsung, MediaTek, Broadcom and Texas Instruments, according to the report. Overall, the analyst said the market showed “robust” growth — growing 61 percent year-on-year in 1H 2012 to reach $5.5 billion.
Taiwan’s MediaTek recorded 13-fold year-on-year growth, ranking third on the strength of strong momentum in the low-to-mid range smartphone segment. While Broadcom’s fourth place position was bolstered by “strategic low-end Android smartphone design-wins at Samsung”, the analyst added.
Intel is best known for producing the microprocessors found in many personal computers. The company also makes a range of other hardware including network cards, motherboards, and graphics chips. Intel created the first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, but it was not until the success of the personal computer that microprocessors became their primary business. In the 1980’s they were an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chip, and during the 1990s they invested heavily in new microprocessor...
In July 1985, seven industry veterans came together in the den of Dr. Irwin Jacobs’ San Diego home to discuss an idea. Those visionaries—Franklin Antonio, Adelia Coffman, Andrew Cohen, Klein Gilhousen, Irwin Jacobs, Andrew Viterbi and Harvey White—decided they wanted to build “QUALity COMMunications†and outlined a plan that has evolved into one of the telecommunications industry’s greatest start-up success stories: Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm started out providing contract research and development services, with limited product manufacturing, for the wireless telecommunications...
MediaTek is a leading fabless semiconductor company for wireless communications and digital multimedia solutions. The company is a market leader and pioneer in cutting-edge SOC system solutions for wireless communications, high-definition TV, optical storage, DVD and Blu-ray products.
Broadcom Corporation engages in the design, development, and supply of semiconductors for wired and wireless communications equipment manufacturers. The company’s products enable the delivery of voice, video, data, and multimedia to and throughout the home, office, and mobile environment. It provides a portfolio of system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. Broadcom Corporation was founded in 1991.
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