Entry-level smartphones are expected to replace high-end smartphones like Apple Inc’s iPhone as a major growth driver for the global semiconductor industry over the next five years, giving an edge to chipmakers such as Taiwan’s Media-Tek Inc (聯發科), which has greater exposure to emerging markets, research firm Gartner Inc said yesterday.
The global semiconductor industry is expected to grow at a slower composite annual rate of 9.6 percent in the period from last year to 2014, reaching US$361 billion in revenue, fueled primarily by demand for laptop computers and smartphones, Gartner said.
This year, the global semiconductor industry is expected to grow 31.5 percent to US$300 billion in revenue, from last year’s US$228 billion, it said.
In 2014, chips used in smartphones would make up a bigger share, or 10 percent, of overall semiconductor revenue, up from 5 percent this year, Gartner said.
Today, high-end models -dominate the smartphone market, but things are changing, Jon Erensen, a principal research analyst of mobile handset semiconductors with Gartner, told a media briefing in Taipei.
By 2013, Android-based smartphones would be retailing for US$75, which means entry-level models would become the new driving force, Erensen said.
Later this year, Chinese mobile phone maker Huawei Technology Co Ltd (華為) is set to launch a new Android phone with a price as low as US$100 without subsidies from mobile operators, compared with a new phone priced at US$500 per unit from Samsung, he said.
As smartphone prices fall, companies with greater exposure to emerging markets would have the advantage, Eensen said. Qulacomm and MediaTek are likely to benefit from this trend, he said.
“MediaTek is a great example,” Erensen said.
A lot of companies in emerging markets are unable to make mobile phones, but with total solutions from MediaTek, they can enter the market, he said.
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