MediaTek And Qualcomm Lose Ground As Smartphone Chip Market Shifts To Premium Devices - channelnews.com.au

According to new data from Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone chipset market is undergoing a structural shift, with MediaTek and Qualcomm both losing ground. Although MediaTek remains the la... Read original →

Soaring memory costs are forcing OEMs to pivot toward premium devices, exposing MediaTek’s overreliance on low-to-mid tiers. Qualcomm, despite its technical edge, lost critical volume as Samsung’s Galaxy S26 shifted to in-house Exynos 2600—highlighting its vulnerability to flagship client churn. Upstream, demand for LPDDR5X/6 and advanced packaging is consolidating power with TSMC and Samsung Foundry; downstream, inefficient module suppliers face rapid attrition. On compliance, U.S. export controls on advanced tools are accelerating non-U.S. vendors’ adoption of localized IP and manufacturing—Huawei’s 4% share reflects quiet progress in domestic EDA and SMIC’s N+2 node. Over the next 12–24 months, if MediaTek fails to break into premium with Dimensity 9000-class chips, it risks a volume-price death spiral. Qualcomm may hedge ARM dependency via RISC-V IP acquisitions, while UNISOC, anchored by Redmi in emerging markets, stands to gain most from geopolitical tech fragmentation.