A recent Counterpoint Research report showed MediaTek continued to take the lead in the global smartphone application market in the third quarter of 2022, but its shipment share slid to 35% from 38% in the prior quarter and 40% a year earlier.
MediaTek will continue to see its smartphone AP shipments drop further in the fourth quarter of 2022, due to order cuts from major Chinese OEMs, said the research firm. Shipments of its LTE SoCs will decline more than 5G SoCs during the quarter, as a result of customers' ongoing inventory adjustments, unfavorable macro conditions and the weak China market.
Despite the upcoming Vivo X90 series and Oppo Find series models featuring MediaTek's Dimensity 9200 SoC, shipment pull-ins for the new flagship processor will likely remain slow in the first half of 2023, Counterpoint Research indicated.
Second-ranked Qualcomm saw its shipment share grow to 31% in the third quarter from 29% in the second quarter and 27% in the third quarter of 2021, according to Counterpoint Research.
Qualcomm's smartphone AP shipments are also expected to decline in the fourth quarter of 2022, caused by macro headwinds, weak demand from Chinese OEMs and slowdowns in consumer product purchases, the research firm said. Inventory correction has had an adverse impact on the premium smartphone AP segment where Qualcomm devotes a large part of its efforts.
Qualcomm has grabbed the entire processor orders for Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S23, but Qualcomm will still likely experience an overall disappointment in demand during the first half of 2023, Counterpoint Research indicated.
On the other hand, Apple's smartphone AP shipments will increase in the fourth quarter of 2022, thanks to the launch of iPhone 14 Pro and its variants with A16 bionic, according to Counterpoint Research. Apple held a 16% share of the global smartphone unit sales in the third quarter of 2022, compared with 13% in the prior quarter and 15% a year ago.
