LONDON – The market for mobile handset ICs, including platform and connectivity ICs, was about $32.2 billion in 2011 and is forecast to grow 11 percent in 2012 to reach $35.7 billion, according to market research firm ABI Research.
Qualcomm was the leading supplier of mobile ICs in 2011 with 26 percent, ABI said. The company expects Qualcomm to lead again in 2012 but did not give a market share estimate for 2012.
Rival analyst Strategy Analytics recently estimated Qualcomm's market share at 48 percent in the first half of 2012.
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MediaTek is following hot on Qualcomm’s heels with its MT6575 platform for low- to mid-end smartphones and is changing from a lower-end handset to a smartphone-focused supplier. Broadcom continues to lead the handset wireless connectivity market with almost 40 percent revenue market share, due largely to its strength in the combo IC market.
Qualcomm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and MediaTek are strong in both platform ICs and connectivity ICs
"For all handset IC suppliers their future fortunes in the market will be bound by their ability to embrace integration and supply the market with compelling solutions that enable high functionality whilst keeping costs down," said Peter Cooney, director of semiconductors, at ABI Research, in a statement.
General purpose voltage references, quad op-amps, and quad comparators are almost as cheap as dirt. Is it possible that a microcontroller plus software could compete economically?
The techniques that are used to great advantage to integrate much digital functionality work far less well when attempting to integrate analog technology. Exciting new research opens the door to new ways of integrating analog building blocks for optimum performance.
As technology evolves, the definition of "programmable" analog/mixed-signal ICs has evolved as well; most users find the change to be a very good thing, despite any limitations it may impose.
Design engineers design and build things as part of product development. Sometimes, it's better to buy a subsystem already fabricated -- but which subsystem and when?
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