Revenue from smart phone chips increased by 59% in the third quarter of 2011

According to the latest data released by market analysis organization Strategy Analytics, in the third quarter of 2011, the global smart phone application processor market increased by 59% compared to the previous year, with a total amount of 2.24 billion US dollars.

Among them, Qualcomm ranks first in the smart phone application processor market in both unit shipments and revenue. From the perspective of the number of units sold, five vendors, Samsung, Weibo, Maiwei Technology, and Broadcom, ranked two to five. Nvidia was squeezed out of Top 5 by Broadcom.

The report pointed out that the total number of stand-alone applications processors has exceeded the baseband integrated applications processor, which accounted for 41% of total smart phone application processor shipments in the third quarter of 2011, an increase of 31% over the same period last year. The large increase in the number of stand-alone applications processors was mainly due to the strong market demand for dual-core processors and the increase in LTE smartphone shipments. Qualcomm, a strong advocate of baseband integrated processors, is now also joining the single-processor application processor market. Its flagship product is the Snapdragon processor (APQ8xxx series).

StrategyAnalytics senior analyst SravanKundojjala pointed out: "In the third quarter of 2011, Qualcomm achieved a 49% revenue share with its multi-layered product portfolio and strong participation in all major mobile software ecosystems, and continues to be a smart phone application processor. Qualcomm has become a leader in the mobile phone chip market and far ahead of other competitors."

According to Stuart Robinson, director of technology services for handset components at StrategyAnalytics, "In the third quarter of 2011, Broadcom finally ranked among the top five suppliers of smart phone application processors, thanks to the company's increased Android business volume."

He added: "Strategy Analytics believes that in the long run, given the Broadcom's integration capabilities, cellular IP capabilities and a strong emphasis on the wireless market, the company has the ability to become a strong competitor to Qualcomm."