This DIGITIMES Special Report provides insights into various aspects of the smartphone AP market, including suppliers' shipments, market shares, manufacturing processes, and the incorporating of AI in the processors.
With smartphone vendors putting in aggressive efforts toward second-half sales in an attempt to reach their whole-year objectives, smartphone AP shipments will likely benefit from high season effects in the third quarter.
According to surveys Digitimes Research conducted in China in March 2018, shipments of smartphone application processors (AP) in China will show a rebound in the second quarter of 2018.
Digitimes Research estimates total shipments of smartphone application processors (AP) worldwide will grow 1.5% on year to 1.67 billion units in 2018. The slowing growth in the smartphone market means global smartphone AP shipments will only grow at a mild pace in the next few years, reaching 1.77 billion units in 2021. The report shows that Qualcomm will continue reigning at No. 1 in terms of vendor rankings in 2018, followed by MediaTek. But in-house-developed chips by Apple, Samsung, and Huawei (Hisilicon) will see their share of shipments grow to almost 30% in 2018.
Based on surveys Digitimes Research conducted in China in December 2017, shipments of smartphone application processors (AP) to the China market in 2017 were able to maintain positive growth. However, shipments in the first quarter of 2018 are expected to decline 18.2% from the level seen in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Vendors moved up smartphone AP shipments ahead of China's National Day Golden Week holiday, buoying third-quarter 2017 shipments to come to 172 million units, up 24.3% on quarter, outperforming market expectation.
China's AP shipments in second-quarter 2017 showed a sequential increase of only 4%, reaching 133.4 million units. On a yearly basis, the figure represents a decrease of 8.3% compared to that of second-quarter 2016.
In terms of the shipments of smartphone application processors (AP) in China, downstream vendors started early inventory preparation in the fourth quarter of 2016 resulting in higher supply chain inventory levels. AP orders dropped significantly after the Chinese New Year, with some handset brand makers even asking to defer AP shipments to a large extent.
Digitimes Research expects global application processor (AP) shipments to increase more than 8% in 2017 and surpass the 1.9 billion mark, with smartphones remaining the main application. After slumping in 2015, Qualcomm returned to form in 2016 and will continue leading the market in 2017, as other players continue playing catch up and scramble for funds to invest in more diverse applications such as IoT and other smart end-device applications.
Digitimes Research estimates shipments of AP for smartphones and tablet PC in China in the fourth quarter of 2016 will show a growth of 11.6% on quarter.
