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Stocking Up on 5G SOCs
March 29, 2020
Samsung moved past Apple into 3rd place holder in 5T smartphone SoCs moving from an 11.8% share of the market to a 14.1% share last year, while Apple’s share declined slightly from 13.6% to 13.1%. Qualcomm is the leader followed by Mediatek, although both lost some share, and Huawei comes up 5th. Apple is preparing for the potential delay of its 5G iPhone lineup that's meant to launch this fall, according to Nikkei Asian Review sources. Supply chain constraints could force the delay, but Apple is also concerned the coronavirus pandemic might lower consumer appetite for phone upgrades. Early this year, the tech giant gave suppliers an aggressive target of 100M 5G devices for this year. Samsung’s current processor, the 990, is based on a 7nm EUV process and with dual core Cortex A76 and quad core Cortex A55 cores, the combined CPU/GPU performance is ~20% above the previous models. The specs are strong when compared to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 in the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (they produce models with both the Exynos and Snapdragon processors for different markets), the Qualcomm chipset performed ~ 10% better and ran cooler under a number of scenarios. Many of these tests were done under specific display modalities and refresh rates and would likely not be as unfavorable to the Samsung chipset in all modes, but it has caused ~20,000 former fans to sign a petition to ask Samsung to no longer use the Exynos chipset and switch entirely to Qualcomm. Samsung’s chipset share gains come from success in the mid and lower-tier markets particularly in North America and India and the company has even used Mediatek chipsets in some of its low-end phones, but continues to develop the Exynos chipset line, although they are currently working with AMD to incorporate AMD’s Radeon graphics technology into the Exynos, rather than continuing the development of custom GPUs. Given AMD’s highly regarded graphics, this might help to sway the relatively small contingent of disenchanted users, but in the general scheme of things, we doubt that 20,000 users will do anything to change Samsung’s choice of using its own Exynos chipset in as many smartphones as possible, although it might push them to work a bit harder to gain even more share against the competition.
Table 1: 5G Smartphone SoC Share by Chipmaker
March 29, 2020
Samsung moved past Apple into 3rd place holder in 5T smartphone SoCs moving from an 11.8% share of the market to a 14.1% share last year, while Apple’s share declined slightly from 13.6% to 13.1%. Qualcomm is the leader followed by Mediatek, although both lost some share, and Huawei comes up 5th. Apple is preparing for the potential delay of its 5G iPhone lineup that's meant to launch this fall, according to Nikkei Asian Review sources. Supply chain constraints could force the delay, but Apple is also concerned the coronavirus pandemic might lower consumer appetite for phone upgrades. Early this year, the tech giant gave suppliers an aggressive target of 100M 5G devices for this year. Samsung’s current processor, the 990, is based on a 7nm EUV process and with dual core Cortex A76 and quad core Cortex A55 cores, the combined CPU/GPU performance is ~20% above the previous models. The specs are strong when compared to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 in the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (they produce models with both the Exynos and Snapdragon processors for different markets), the Qualcomm chipset performed ~ 10% better and ran cooler under a number of scenarios. Many of these tests were done under specific display modalities and refresh rates and would likely not be as unfavorable to the Samsung chipset in all modes, but it has caused ~20,000 former fans to sign a petition to ask Samsung to no longer use the Exynos chipset and switch entirely to Qualcomm. Samsung’s chipset share gains come from success in the mid and lower-tier markets particularly in North America and India and the company has even used Mediatek chipsets in some of its low-end phones, but continues to develop the Exynos chipset line, although they are currently working with AMD to incorporate AMD’s Radeon graphics technology into the Exynos, rather than continuing the development of custom GPUs. Given AMD’s highly regarded graphics, this might help to sway the relatively small contingent of disenchanted users, but in the general scheme of things, we doubt that 20,000 users will do anything to change Samsung’s choice of using its own Exynos chipset in as many smartphones as possible, although it might push them to work a bit harder to gain even more share against the competition.
Table 1: 5G Smartphone SoC Share by Chipmaker
Source: Counterpoint
Although Japanese carriers originally planned to roll out 5G networks and services to coincide with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July, trade wars and accelerated global 5G launches created uncertainty around the scope and timing of Japan’s commercial 5G launch. Despite the push back of the Olympics to 2021, Japan’s top carriers are kicking off 5G. KDDI announced that it will offer “au 5G”-branded service in parts of 15 Japanese prefectures starting on March 26, notably with unlimited data at the same price point as prior 4G service — 8,480 yen (~$77) per month, or 3,460 yen (~$31) after various early adopter discounts. The carrier says it will service major cities in all 47 prefectures by summer, expand to 10,000 5G base stations by March 2021, and offer 20,000 stations by March 2022. KDDI has been working on ambitious plans to roll out 5G-powered augmented reality experiences within Japanese society. Its service includes access to a Ghost in the Shell AR walk in Shibuya, as well as select sports, comedy, and stage performances with AR components around Tokyo. The carrier is also working with Nreal to deploy its Light AR glasses for use with Android phones, including “holographic” collaborative work and social experiences using the Spatial app. NTT Docomo, which had intended to broadcast the Olympics in 8K will launch commercial 5G service across 29 prefectures on Wednesday, one day ahead of KDDI, with a 7,650 yen (~$69) plan that promises 100GB of data per month, though that cap will not initially be firm. Softbank will start with a smaller seven-prefecture 5G launch on Friday and plans to ask for 1,000 yen (~$9) as a 5G surcharge, but it will waive that fee for two years if customers sign up before the end of August.
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