Qualcomm and Samsung dominate LTE cellphone modem market

USA: With 86 percent of the 47 million FDD-LTE cellphone modems shipped last year, Qualcomm will certainly continue its domination in 2013. Samsung followed with 9 percent of the shipments, while tiny GCT Semiconductor managed to grab 3 percent of the market, primarily through LG handsets. Renesas Mobile (mostly in Fujitsu handsets) and Nvidia-Icera each garnered 1 percent market shares.

In its newest market study, Forward Concepts analyzes the market dynamics and shipment metrics of the core integrated circuits that are required in all cellphones. The new study is covered in a new report, "Cellphone & Tablet Core Chip Markets '13," which addresses the global market for cellular modems, application processors, RF transceivers, RF Power Amplifiers and Power Management ICs.  Media Tablets and Smartphones are special parts of the report and are covered in depth.

High-end smartphones punch through the $700 level but low-end smartphones are now available that are trending below the $100 level. This has led to price segmentation of the smartphone market: Premium, Mainstream & Entry Level, and negatively impacting the former "feature phone" market. The study estimates 2012 market shares of all chip vendors and forecasts each chip type in units, average selling price and revenue through 2017.

According to the study, modems and application processors are increasingly found together in the same package, and even on the same die.  So, the report forecasts the so-called com-processor market (communications/application processor), with the China market being of increasing significance.

Will Strauss, Forward Concepts’ president said, "We are confident that this study provides the comprehensive information needed for new product and business planning."