In the chipset market for 5G smartphones, MediaTek and Qualcomm have been leading for a while now. In fact, it was just recently that we learned MediaTek reigns dominant after a report claimed it now holds 27.2% of the market.
Now, smartphone giants, OPPO and Xiaomi are looking to reduce their dependence on the chipset-manufacturing companies. According to DigiTimes, OPPO and Xiaomi will introduce their in-house developed sub-6Ghz 5G chipsets between late 2021 and early 2022.
The two smartphone brands will collaborate with Shanghai-based chipset company Unisoc (formerly Spreadtrum) to manufacture these chips.
Except Unisoc, isn’t as established as MediaTek or Qualcomm and relies on third-party companies to actually manufacture chips from their submitted designs.
So why did OPPO and Xiaomi make the bold move to manufacture chipsets and make matters even more complicated by collaborating with a not-so-successful chipset manufacturing company?
Well, with the global chipset shortage and companies like Qualcomm struggling to keep up demand for its processor chips, the Chinese government came up with a policy to boost their domestic semiconductor sector.
And the realization that, just like Huawei, Chinese smartphone companies could face restrictions imposed by the U.S if relations with China would get any nastier than they are.
It’s worth noting that, OPPO and Xiaomi manufacturing chipsets would cause a ripple effect to the semiconductor industry for the better. However, it’s a laborious and costly process, so it may take a while before we see any smartphones with in-house manufactured chips.
For now, however, the main chipset suppliers remain Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Next; Apple expected to ship off a record-breaking 240 million iPhones in 2021; maybe even more
Alfred Gitonga is a passionate tech news writer with a deep interest in smartphones and related technologies. He is a staff writer at Mobitrends.co.ke.
