According to a report just released by the Chinese magazine Digital Times, shipments of smartphone processors, which also include those for export, will stagnate in the first quarter of 2021. This despite Huawei's sub-brand, Honor, has begun to increase its chip inventory, with other brands also having they are increasing their orders to keep inventory status high; especially after what happened with the US government and Huawei.
DigiTimes: Smartphone shipments will remain steady in Q1 2021
In any case, at the moment the 8nm and 12nm chip factories are full of orders and are running at full capacity precisely because smartphone makers have increased orders.
The report also added that approximately 211,6 million smartphone SoCs were shipped to Chinese companies in the fourth quarter of last year. This marked an increase of 9,9% quarter over quarter and 7,7% year over year. The market has fared better than expected with robust shipments, with brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo looking to expand their market share in the domestic market while the current market leader, Huawei, still struggles after US sanctions.
In particular, MediaTek was a major supplier of smartphone processors in China, accounting for 42,5% of all shipments in the final quarter of last year. The chipmaker was followed by Qualcomm with a 41,5% market share and Huawei’s HiSilicon with a 9,5% share. DigiTimes estimates that MediaTek will remain the market leader in the first quarter, with Qualcomm trailing closely behind.
