The smartphone applications processor (AP) market revenue grew 20 percent to $5.8 billion thanks to 5G smartphone business in Q2 2020, according to Strategy Analytics.
Qualcomm, HiSilicon, Apple, MediaTek, and Samsung LSI captured the top-five revenue share spots in the smartphone applications processor (AP) market in Q2 2020.

Qualcomm maintained its lead of the smartphone AP market with a 32 percent revenue share, followed by HiSilicon with 22 percent and Apple with 19 percent.

Strategy Analytics estimates that smartphone AP shipments declined 16 percent in Q2 2020, driven by COVID-19-led weakness.

Smartphone APs with on-device artificial intelligence (AI) registered strong growth even as the total market declined and accounted for 70 percent of total smartphone APs shipped in Q2 2020, up from 48 percent in Q2 2019.

Top-selling smartphone AI APs include Apple A13 Bionic, Qualcomm Snapdragon 765/G and HiSilicon Kirin 990.

Stand-alone AP shipments grew 36 percent as vendors such as Qualcomm and Samsung used stand-alone AP approach to address the flagship 5G market in 2020.

Despite a shipment decline, Qualcomm saw significant strength in its smartphone AP ASPs, thanks to 5G. Qualcomm’s smartphone AP ASP reached their highest in the last six years. 5G-attached APs accounted for over 35 percent of Qualcomm’s total smartphone AP shipments in Q2 2020.

MediaTek overtook Qualcomm in terms of integrated AP shipments but Qualcomm retained the overall smartphone lead in units and revenues.

Strategy Analytics estimates that Qualcomm has a sizeable lead over MediaTek in revenue terms.

“The smartphone supply chain including foundries and AP vendors held up well and ensured steady supply, especially in high growth segments such as 5G,” said Stephen Entwistle, vice president of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice.