The wireless connectivity is gaining even more global momentum with the growing reach capabilities of LTE (News - Alert) technology. As many carriers around the world adopt this high-speed 4G technology, the importance of LTE chipset makers grows.
This is good news for mobile baseband processor chipset vendors, as they are becoming key players as carriers shift to the new wireless communication standard, at least
According to research findings from ABI Research (News - Alert), Qualcomm, a provider of wireless technology and services, has dominated the LTE chipset market so far, comprising over two-thirds of all shipments in 2012. Is not likely to relinquish its lead any time soon, although it could see some stiff competition from both Broadcom and Intel (News - Alert) in the near future.
Philip Solis, ABI research director, observed that some of the smaller LTE baseband vendors could take this as an opportunity to make deeper inroads into the LTE chipset market, which is projected to grow to well over 850 million shipments in 2018 for handsets alone.
Mobile device design is increasingly dependent on integrated platforms, which are combinations of application processors, baseband processors, and wireless connectivity technologies. This is where Qualcomm (News - Alert) scores over other vendor offerings.
The company currently integrates wireless connectivity into nearly all of its products, and offers integrated platform products with suites of different features. LTE vendors offering integrated platforms can allow OEMs to design products more easily and quickly. ABI findings indicate that the benefits of integrated platforms are leading vendors to focus on offering these types of services. The right time for smaller vendors to make traction in the market is now because once the products gain a sizeable demand, larger vendors will enter the fray.
The research seems to indicate that it will be quite some time before things crystallize for these integrated technologies, and standalone components will still be required as technology evolves across different platforms.
Given the ongoing transition to 4G LTE in many developed markets, how long will Qualcomm continue to monopolize the LTE chipset market? Can Broadcom (News - Alert), Intel and other large vendors challenge Qualcomm’s crown?
Edited by Blaise McNamee