According to research of the Taipei-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) conducted as part of the ITIS project, Taiwanese Smartphone application IC market volume reached 116.97 million units in the third quarter of 2009, up 30.9% sequentially. Market value amounted to US$613.7 million, up 32.0% sequentially. In the third quarter of 2009 sales of the Apple iPhone 3GS far exceeded expectations, and sales are expected to reach 10 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. iPhone chip suppliers have benefited from this development. Furthermore, other terminal vendors made advance procurements to prepare for the peak season in the fourth quarter.
Regarding baseband and RF transceivers, CDMA (including EVDO) market volume in the third quarter reached 1.39 million units, accounting for 10.4% of the total, as several new models of HTC (Hero, Desire) were officially launched by US operators Verizon and Sprint and as the Palm Pre continued shipments. Terminal products using EDGE chips are gradually retreating from the market mainstream. However, due to shipments of the EDGE version mini 3i series, manufactured by Foxconn and aimed at the Chinese market, EDGE chip market volume grew to 562,000 units in the third quarter, and its share of the total amounted to 4.2%. HSPA share fell to 85.1%, but HSPA chip market volume still reached 11.37 million units, a new high.
As for suppliers' market shares, Smartphones of Taiwanese manufacturers still mainly adopt baseband and RF transceivers of Infineon, which benefited from the Apple iPhone series, and Qualcomm.
Regarding PA (Power Amplifier), Taiwanese Smartphone PA chip market volume in the third quarter of 2009 reached 48.59 million units. Triquint still had the largest market share in this segment, as it is a main supplier of 2G PAs for HTC and 3G PAs for Apple.
As for AP (Application Processor), "Samsung is currently the largest supplier in the market, as it supplies for the Apple iPhone series models," said MIC Industry Analyst Edward Lin. "However, TI, which has exited from the baseband business and now focuses on AP development, has rolled out the OMAP 3430 series, which adopts the Cortex A8 architecture and features a clock speed of 1GHz. This offers processor options other than Qualcomm, enabling terminal vendors to pair together different communications systems, and it has been well received by many brand-name vendors, such as HTC, Palm etc. As a result, TI's share in the Taiwanese Smartphone AP market increased in the third quarter of 2009."
More information can be found in the following MIC report: The Taiwanese Smartphone Application IC Market, 4Q 2009
For future receipt of press releases, or more information about MIC research findings, please contact MIC Public Relations.
About MIC
Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english
About ITIS
The Industry and Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS) project is managed by the Department of Industrial Technology of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs. As part of the project, research is conducted in a variety of fields, including the ICT sector. The project serves both the public and private sector.