Smartphone Applications Processor Market More than Doubled in Q1 2011

A recent report from Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) found that competitive dynamics in the smartphone original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and OS landscape continues to influence applications processor vendor fortunes. This trend was clearly reflected in the Q1 2011 rankings.

Global smartphone applications processors market registered a staggering 108 percent year-over-year growth in Q1 2011, to reach $1.68 billion, finds the report titled, “Smartphone Apps Processor Market Share: Qualcomm (News - Alert) Kicks TI Down to Second Place in Q1 2011,” from the Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service.

2011 proves to be a highly competitive year for applications processor vendors. This is mainly because smartphone OEMs are opening up their supply chains to multiple vendors. Additionally, the smartphone market continues to fragment into multiple tiers, favoring those vendors with broad processor portfolios.

Strategy Analytics expects these dynamics to influence applications processor rankings in the next few quarters.

According to the report, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Samsung, Marvell and NVIDIA featured in top-five revenue share rankings in Q1 2011.

“For the first time Texas Instruments (News - Alert) (TI) lost its unit shipment leadership crown to Qualcomm in Q4 2010, after leading the smartphone applications processor market for several years. This trend continued in Q1 2011,” said Sravan Kundojjala, senior analyst, in a statement. “Qualcomm strongly leveraged its broad integrated processor portfolio to address multiple price tiers of the smartphone market.”

According to Strategy Analytics, Snapdragon processors accounted for 22 percent of Qualcomm’s total smartphone processor shipments in Q1 2011, helping the company to maintain its average selling prices (ASPs).

Earlier in March, Strategy Analytics noted in its latest report, “Smartphone Apps Processor (News - Alert) Market Share: Qualcomm’s Revenue Share Reached 41 Percent in 2010,” that smartphone applications processor revenue showed 77 percent year-over-year growth to reach $4.52 billion in 2010.

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