Kadir Can AkıncıThere are a variety of mobile processors in the smartphone world, users decide what processor they want to use based on their own preferences. It’s not particularly surprising, but MediaTek continues to hold its leadership position in 2023.
Counterpoint reveals the mobile processor shipment report, MediaTek takes the lead in 2023.
MediaTek ranked first in the first quarter of 2023 with 32% rate of total global shipments. MediaTek has been leading the market since 2021, mainly thanks to their competitive processor pricing. MediaTek produces a wide range of chipsets for smartphones, making it a preferred choice not only for Chinese smartphone manufacturers but also for other Android OEMs. Even Samsung has started incorporating MediaTek chipsets in their entry-level devices.
While MediaTek has recently made significant improvements in power efficiency for chipsets used in lower-end devices, their high-end chipsets are also competing with Qualcomm. A notable example is the Xiaomi 12 Pro, which offers two different variants: one powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the other featuring MediaTek Dimensity 9000+. MediaTek has proven to be highly capable in recent years.
Counterpoint’s analysis highlights the remarkable rise of Apple. Just a few years ago, Apple had a shipment rate of around 13%-14%, but it has now reached approximately 30%. On the other hand, Samsung’s Exynos chipsets are facing a decline.
| Global Smartphone Chipset Market Share (Q4 2021 – Q4 2022) | ||||||
| Brands | Q4 2021 | Q1 2022 | Q2 2022 | Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 | Q1 2023 |
| Mediatek | 35% | 36% | 36% | 35% | 33% | 32% |
| Qualcomm | 29% | 34% | 32% | 32% | 19% | 28% |
| Apple | 20% | 14% | 13% | 16% | 28% | 26% |
| UNISOC | 11% | 11% | 11% | 9% | 11% | 8% |
| Samsung | 4% | 5% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 4% |
| HiSilicon (Huawei) | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Others | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
There are rumors suggesting that the upcoming S23 series might include an Exynos variant, or Samsung may bring back the Exynos in future models. However, there is no official statement from Samsung regarding this matter at present. Currently, MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Apple are the leading players in the smartphone market.
