The growing demand of 3G and 4G LTE IC form Smartphones and tablets and other networking devices are fueling the growth of the global LTE IC market. The retail costs of smartphones are largely influenced by the cost of LTE IC integrated equipped in them. The LTE enabled phones are high in cost, since major smartphone manufacturers intend to increase profit, using LTE as a high-end differentiated feature. However, the established players of LTE IC in the market have very high proprietary learning curve, which is acting as a barrier for the new entrants. Qualcomm and Intel accounted for more than 80% share of the high end LTE IC market in 2014.
The market is going through continuous product innovations. Recently, the 64 bit chip and octa-core chip are witnessing high penetration in the high end networking devices. The prices of 64bit are expected to fall during the forecast period, as more chip vendors are expected to launch such products. The competition among the vendors for the octa-core LTE IC market is high. In 2014, MediaTek Inc was the largest manufacturer of octa core chip. In 2013, the company launched 3G octa core chip MT6592, which has high market penetration, due to lack of competitor in the Chinese market. Moreover, MediaTeck launched ‘MT6591’ a six core 3G SOC chip, which was the first hexa core chip in the world. MediaTeck is expected to use hexa core chip, for relieving the price pressure on its Octa core chips.
The increasing penetration of smart phone in developing countries has boosted the growth of the LTE IC market. The smartphone segment accounted for more than 70% share of the global market in 2014. By the end of 2017, the smart phone shipment is expected to reach touch 1.5 billion units, as compared to 1 billion shipments in 2013.
Among the various geographical divisions, Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest market of Long-Term Evolution Integrated circuits market in 2014. The high production of smart phones and other networking devices from China, South Korea, and Japan are the leading factor behind the market dominance of Asia-Pacific. North America was the second largest market in terms of value, owing the demand of high end LTE IC leading electronics and networking device manufacturers in the region. Country wise, China, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, South Korea, Japan, India, France, Germany, and Brazil are the major Long-Term Evolution Integrated circuits markets.
Qualcomm was the largest player in the global market. The company has the monopoly in 3G and 4G LTE IC. The company accounted for more than 80% share 0f the global 3G and 4G LTE IC market in 2014. Some of the competitors in the LTE market are, NVIDIA, Infidel, Samsung, Sequans Communications, and Spreadtrum.
Global LTE IC Market Segmentation
By Type
- Digital Baseband Processor
- RF Transceiver
- RF power Amplifier
- Application Processors
- Communication Processors
- Power management Units
By Technology
- Dual Core
- Quad Core
- Octa Core
- Others (including Hexa core)
By Application
- Smartphones
- Tablets
- USB
- Notebook
- Others
By Geography
- North America
- Latin America
- Western Europe
- Eastern Europe
- Asia-Pacific
- Middle East & Africa (MEA)
