Qualcomm’s LTE baseband unit share fell to less than 80 percent in Q3 2014 from nearly 95 percent in Q3 2013, said Strategy Analytics.
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The significant drop in share is due to the aggressive expansion by LTE baseband rivals of Qualcomm. MediaTek, Spreadtrum, Marvell and Intel are the main competitors.
The size of the cellular baseband processor market rose 5 percent to $5.5 billion in Q3 2014, said Strategy Analytics last week.
Qualcomm is leading the global cellular baseband processor market with 64 percent revenue share, followed by MediaTek with 17 percent revenue share and Spreadtrum with 6 percent.
LTE basebands accounted for over 50 percent of Qualcomm’s total baseband shipments in Q3 2014, thanks to new Snapdragon and Gobi chips and China LTE momentum.
MediaTek moved to number two spot in the LTE baseband market in Q3 2014, overtaking Marvell.
HiSilicon, Intel, Marvell and Samsung also made progress in LTE basebands. HiSilicon capitalized on multiple LTE device design-wins at its parent company Huawei while Intel ramped up LTE shipments with the help of high-profile design-wins at Samsung.
