By Li Panpan

The top two smartphone SoCs suppliers to the Chinese mainland market in May are MTK and Qualcomm, said CINNO research on July 12.

The shipment of smartphone SoC in the Chinese mainland in May was about 19.12 million, an increase of about 8.6% month-on-month and a year-on-year decrease of about 19.7%, said CINNO Research. 

MediaTek ranked first in the top five smartphone SoC vendors list in the Chinese mainland with shipments of 8.4 million, followed by Qualcomm with 6.4 million and Apple with 3 million. 

Qualcomm’s SoCs for mid-range smartphones priced at RMB2,000-3,999 ($297-594) and low-end smartphones within RMB2,000 ($297) accounted for about 46.3% and 41.8%, respectively, of its total shipments in the Chinese mainland in May. Qualcomm is with more diversified product layout than MediaTek, with 70.9% of its SoCs used for low-end smartphones within RMB2,000 ($297), said the report. 

Apple accounts for about 71.1% of the SoC market for high-end smartphones priced at more than RMB4,000 ($594) in the Chinese mainland, further strengthening its market position after Huawei HiSilicon was sanctioned in the higher-end smartphone market.

UNISOC increased in May its SoCs shipments to about 500,000 units, surpassing Huawei HiSillcon to rank fourth in monthly shipments. It is attributed to its major customer Honor’s 3.2 million sales of smartphones in the Chinese mainland market which ranked first in the month.

Although China’s smartphone market showed signs of stabilizing in May, it still lacks enough recovery momentum with major manufacturers’ high inventory levels and weak consumer enthusiasm, affecting the SoC market accordingly, said the CINNO Research report.