Thanks to Strategy Analytics for this one - the top seven suppliers of baseband chips for mobile phone handsets.
The Magnificent Seven are:
Qualcomm 38 19
MediaTek 18 24
TI 15 26
ST-Ericsson 10 10
Infineon 7 11
Broadcom 4 3
Freescale 2 2
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David,
Do you have any breakdown in the QCOM results that would explain the huge difference in AUP implied by the 38% rev share for a 19% unit market share?
The quoted figures do not seem to include QCOM royalty revenue, so the difference would seem to be chip product mix (more 3G chips?)and maybe the CDMA vs. GSM chip price premium. Any thoughts?
Yes, Robert, it's dramatic, isn't it? I expect that, as you say, the product mix has a lot to do with it, and also, from seeing some of those Korean and Japanese contracts Qualcomm negotiated, that they charge a thumping premium for CDMA chip-sets. But it's interesting. I will have a further look into it.
Looks like Apple got a very good deal from Infineon !!!
Yes Mike it certainly does. The Strategy Analytics data gives Infineon 11% of the units and 7% of the revenues but the latest 2010 Canalys data gives Apple 21% share of the units. So, as you say, it looks as if they got a particularly lousy deal. But I've heard wireless CEOs moaning that the handset people want the baseband for b. all.
Interesting - any idea where Marvel sits?
David,
I did some digging into the 350% AUP spread between QCOM and TI. It appears that a large percentage of the difference is due to the level of SOC integration.
Similarly the MKT vs TI difference reflects the "all on one chip" philosophy at MTK, meaning that for MTK "feature phone" revenue = baseband chipset revenue, whereas TI has a bigger percentage of the low-end Phone-only chipset market, hence the lowest AUP.
Still the implied prices for QCOM are a little unbelievable, assuming $3.5USD APU for TI baseband only would suggest that QCOM's AUP is $12.25 USD for a chip with baseband.
It has been a long time since any other baseband chip vendor received unit prices above $10USD.
David, You can see complete graph here for 12 companies including Marvell.
http://blogs.strategyanalytics.com/stp/?p=33
Thanks Robert that's really useful and provides a great insight
Thanks, Anonymous, that's very helpful indeed