Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, recently the market research institute Counterpoint Research released the global smartphone AP (application processor) market report for the third quarter of 2023. From the perspective of shipment volume, MediaTek still ranked first, but its market share fell to 35%; The market share of Qualcomm, which ranked second, rose to 31%; The next three to five are Apple, Zhanrui and Samsung.

Specifically, the global smartphone AP market share of MediaTek in the third quarter was 35%, down 3 percentage points from the second quarter. This is mainly due to the reduction of orders by major mobile phone brand manufacturers in China. It is expected that MediaTek's shipments in the fourth quarter will continue to decline. Counterpoint Research said that due to the continuous adjustment of customer inventory and the global macroeconomic downturn, China's smartphone market demand is weak. The decline of mobile phone LTE SoC will exceed 5G SoC in the fourth quarter of 2022. However, with the shipment of the relevant models of MediaTek 9200 for high-end market, such as Vivo (X90 series) and OPPO (Find series), the market performance of MediaTek in the first quarter of 2023 will be promoted to some extent. However, in general, the climbing trend of the fourth quarter of 2022 is weak, and the first half of 2023 will also maintain a slow trend. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Qualcomm ranked second, with a market share of 31% in the third quarter, up 2 percentage points from the second quarter. Obviously, although the overall mobile phone market has declined, Qualcomm's medium and high-end smartphone market, which has a large share, has been relatively less affected. Counterpoint Research predicts that Qualcomm's shipments will decline in the fourth quarter of 2022. However, the recently announced Galaxy S23 series partnership between Qualcomm and Samsung will support its high-end product shipments. Samsung Galaxy S23 series will use Qualcomm Snapdragon processor 100%. However, Samsung's revenue still cannot offset the year-on-year decline of Qualcomm's revenue in the first quarter of 2023. It is expected that the first half of 2023 will continue to be weak. Huacheng's import and export data observation report.

Apple ranked third, with a market share of 16% in the third quarter, up 3 percentage points from the second quarter. This is mainly due to the official release of the iPhone 14 series (especially the new A16 processor on the Pro series) with the A-series self-developed chip on September 8. With the massive shipment of iPhone 14 series in the fourth quarter, the shipment of Apple A series processor is expected to increase further.

Ziguang Zhanrui, ranked fourth, had a market share of 10% in the third quarter, down 1 percentage point from the second quarter. Counterpoint Research believes that the shipment volume of Zhanrui will also decline in the fourth quarter, due to the weak demand for low-end and entry-level smart phones and the slowdown in demand in the Chinese market. According to the observation report of Huacheng Import and Export Data, Ziguang Zhanrui continues to occupy a place in the low-end market (<$99) driven by LTE product portfolio. With the introduction of phones with T-series SoC by realme, HONOR, Motorola and Samsung, Purple Light has expanded its customer base, won mobile phone design orders in ZTE and TECNO, and entered the Samsung Galaxy A series. However, the inventory of low-end LTE is very high, and it is expected to be solved in the second half of 2023.

Samsung ranked fifth, with a market share of 7% in the third quarter, down 1 percentage point from the previous quarter, mainly due to the loss of its share in the Galaxy S22 series. However, Samsung has launched Galaxy M33, A33 and A53 equipped with Exynos 1280 SoC in the mid-to-high-end market. In addition, the Exynos processor has no new update, which will also affect Samsung's market share in the next few quarters. The same is true of Exynos 850, a SoC chip for low-end 4G mobile phones. Counterpoint Research predicts that Samsung smart phone chips will continue to be weak in the fourth quarter, and will also be affected by the lack of more advanced chip updates in 2023. It is expected that the mid-range product portfolio will undergo some adjustments in the second half of 2023. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.