MediaTek remains world's No. 3 supplier of smartphone chips in Q3

Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) Taiwan's MediaTek Inc. (聯發科), a major supplier of handset chips to Chinese brands, remained the world's third-largest supplier of smartphone application processors in the third quarter of 2014, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Based on Strategy Analytics' estimates, Qualcomm Inc., Apple Inc., MediaTek, Spreadtrum Communications Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. featured in the top-five smartphone applications processor (AP) spots in the July-September period, with their rankings remaining unchanged from the previous quarter.

U.S.-based Qualcomm maintained its lead in the smartphone AP market with a 51 percent revenue share in the third quarter, followed by Apple with a 19 percent revenue share and MediaTek with a 15 percent revenue share, Strategy Analytics said in a report last week.

The revenue of global smartphone AP market grew 16 percent year-on-year to reach US$5.6 billion in the third quarter, according to the Boston-based research company.

"Despite its huge scale and increased competition, Qualcomm continues to grow and its smartphone AP shipments registered an impressive 57 percent year-on-year growth in the third quarter of 2014," said Strategy Analytics analyst Stuart Robinson.

"This can be attributed to Qualcomm's global LTE (Long-Term Evolution) smartphone momentum and strong traction in mid-range 3G smartphones," Robinson noted.

(By Jeffrey Wu)ENDITEM