Counterpoint: Qualcomm leads market despite losing share to HiSilicon and MediaTek

Smartphone application processor market declined in Q2 2020 due to COVID-19 with Huawei's HiSilicon taking Qualcomm's market share in China.

Q2 2020 AP marketshare

Huawei shares increase in China after tighter restrictions

Regional marketshare breakdown

Smartphone Application Processor (AP) market declined by 26 percent in the second quarter of 2020 as smartphone sales fell due to COVID-19. 

Qualcomm leads the market with 29 percent share which dropped compared to Q2 2019 share of 33 percent. Huawei's HiSilicon APs rose in market share by 4 percent due to increased use of HiSilicon APs after the US Government restrictions and the company's growing share in China.

Qualcomm's share in Huawei and HONOR smartphones have declined from 12 percent in Q2 2019 to 3 percent in Q2 2020.

Neil Shah, Qualcomm's VP of Research at Counterpoint said that the situation isn't that bad as 5G smartphone sales have more increased by a massive 126 percent in Q2 2020 compared to the first quarter. This will create opportunities for AP suppliers to increase the share of semiconductor content despite the market volume remaining lower this year. The resistrictions to Huawei will also cause the growth for both Qualcomm, MediaTek and Unisoc.

Research Analyst Shobhit Srivastava said that OPPO, vivo, realme and Xiaomi will be the key drivers for Qualcomm and MediaTek as they will be filling the large gap which Huawei may leave behind in the near future.

Overall, Counterpoint estimates that the smartphone AP market will be growing from 2021 onwards and will continue for the next three years as 5G adoption reaches emerging markets.

Source: Counterpoint