TelecomLead America:The mobile handset, smartphone, and tablet chip markets
have seen tremendous growth in the last 5 years, driven by innovative new
products like Apple’s iPhone and iPad, and Google’s Android phones and tablets,
according to Forward Concepts’ new cell phone and tablet market research report.
The latest Cellular Handset & Tablet Chip
Markets ’12 report says declining growth in cellular handset shipments (6.5
percent in 2011 compared with 12 percent growth in 2010) is largely offset by a
predicted 17 percent growth in smartphone sales.
Baseband chips constitute the largest non-memory
cellphone chip market, valued at $15.9 billion for 2011. Power management units
account for a $5.5 billion market value. Other major cellular chips are
RF transceivers ($3.7 billion), RF power amplifiers ($3.6 billion), image
sensors ($2.9 billion), standalone application processors ($2.8 billion),
and touch-screen controllers ($2.7 billion).
For startups and smaller companies, the market for
cellular peripheral chips presents more profitable opportunities than these
major core markets. Wireless peripheral “combo” radio devices
consisting of Wi-Fi, FM/AM, Bluetooth, GPS and (perhaps soon) NFC together
constitute a growing share of the cellphone component market.
The NFC-enabled handset market is set to grow at a
CAGR of 68.8 percent from 2011-2016, according to GBI Research’s new NFC
and mobile technology market research report, Near Field Communication
(NFC) Market to 2016 – Increased Availability of NFC Embedded Handsets Key
for Higher Market Penetration.
NFC will also be integrated in BlueTooth chipsets
before 2016. Indeed, BlueTooth-embedded handset sales are expected to reach 2.4
billion units by 2016, and the majority of these phones will also feature NFC.
According to the report, Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE) was launched
in November 2011 and this version is expected to lead handset manufacturers to
opt for dual mode chips that support both BLE as well as older BlueTooth
technology.
NFC phone sales will touch 100 million in 2012, NXP leads
chip market
Recently Berg Insight said close to 100 million
cellphones using Near-field Communication (NFC) technology will be sold this
year, with sales more than tripling from a year ago. NXP Semiconductor is the
leading manufacturer of NFC chips.
Last year more than 40 NFC-enabled models were released
by the handset vendors, in order to tap emerging market for mobile payments.
Berg Insight further expects the global market for NFC phones to grow to 700
million phones in 2016 from 30 million in 2011.
