In the fourth quarter of 2023, MediaTek emerged as the top chip manufacturer with a whopping 117 million smartphones shipped with its silicon. This marked a significant 21% increase year-over-year for the company, showcasing the popularity of its flagship Dimensity 9300 application processor (AP) with its unique configuration. The Octa-core SoC boasts four Cortex-X4 Prime CPU cores and four Cortex-A720 Performance CPU cores, omitting low-power CPU cores for enhanced performance.
Following closely behind MediaTek was Apple, shipping 78 million iPhone units during the same period, each powered by one of the tech giant’s A-series chipsets. The latest addition to Apple’s lineup is the cutting-edge 3nm A17 Pro, fueling the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models. Apple saw a respectable 7% increase in chip shipments year-over-year for Q4 2023.
Qualcomm secured third place with 69 million smartphones delivered in Q4 containing its Snapdragon processors, reflecting a modest gain of 1% annually. Meanwhile, UNISOC, formerly known as Speadtrum, experienced a notable surge in shipments with 27 million smartphones equipped with its chipsets during the fourth quarter—a substantial increase of 24% year-over-year.
Despite advancements in performance compared to previous Exynos APs, Samsung faced a setback in Q4 as there was a significant decline of 48% in phones powered by Exynos chipsets due to delays in launching models like the Galaxy S24 series. On the other hand, Huawei’s HiSilicon unit thrived thanks to Chinese foundry SMIC producing the innovative 7nm Kirin 9000s for the Huawei Mate 60 series—an impressive leap of over 5,000% year-over-year.
Google shipped three million Pixel handsets powered by its Tensor chip during Q4—a slight decrease of 4% from the previous year. When considering revenue generated globally by phones equipped with these chipsets:
– Apple led the pack with $87 billion generated from iPhone sales using A-series APs—an impressive growth of 20% year-over-year.
– Qualcomm followed closely behind with $30 billion in revenue despite a slight decline of 2%.
– MediaTek saw a substantial increase of 22%, raking in $23 billion from phones using its chipsets.
– Huawei’s HiSilicon witnessed an extraordinary surge of over 24,000%, generating $7 billion from phones shipped with its chipsets.
– Samsung’s Exynos chipset revenue dropped by 44% to $5 billion.
– UNISOC silicon revenue increased by an encouraging 24%, reaching $3 billion.
– Google’s Pixel handsets powered by Tensor chips contributed $2 billion in revenue—a notable growth of 22%.
Overall, these figures demonstrate the competitive landscape among top chipset vendors and highlight key players driving innovation and market success within the telecommunications industry.
