Baseband and application processors on a single die changing cellphone chip market dynamics

MESA, USA: Forward Concepts has announced the publication of its newest study of the worldwide market for the principal chips that enable cellphones. The new study, “Cellphone Core Chip Trends,” provides an in-depth market analysis of baseband, application processor, RF & power management chips. The study provides detailed forecasts by technology of these core cellular handset chips.

Importantly, the study estimates 2010 market shares of chip vendors and forecasts each chip type in units, average selling price and revenue through 2015. Market metrics and company profiles are the central focus of the study, and cellphone core chip markets for 2010 were:

* Baseband chips in three main classes constitute the largest non-memory cellphone chip market at $12.7 billion.

* Power management units are critical companions for all cellphone processors to enable efficient operation and long battery life. They reached $4.5 billion.

* RF transceivers are increasingly complex as LTE and new 2G/3G/LTE multi-mode devices emerge. That market reached $3.7 billion.

* RF power amplifiers also have to cope with increasingly complex multi-band operation and revenues for them reached $2.8 billion.

* Stand-alone application processors reached $1.6 billion, but many more were part of the $3.9 billion market for communication processors that consist of both baseband and application processors on the same die or in the same package.

* The highest expected 2011 growth rate in core cellphone chips are LTE basebands at 800 percent.

According to the principal author, Carter L. Horney: "It is folly to separate basebands and application processors as separate markets, since stand-alone basebands constitute only just over half of that market, since integrated basebands and application processors on the same die are a growing trend. Think Snapdragon from Qualcomm and combo chips by Texas Instruments for Nokia."

Will Strauss, Forward Concepts’ president and contributor to the report, said, "We are confident that this study provides the comprehensive information needed for new business planning."