Today, Counterpoint Research reported that global smartphone chip (SoC / AP + baseband) shipments declined 5% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2022.
The report notes that the impact of the decline in shipments was offset by strong revenue growth, with global chip revenue recording solid year-over-year growth of 23% in Q1 2022 as chip unit prices increased and penetration in higher-priced 5G smartphones increased.
Among them, TSMC, the world's largest foundry, produces about 70 percent of key smartphone chips, from complete system-on-chips (SoCs) to discrete application processors (APs) and cellular modems. The Samsung foundry is the second largest after TSMC, accounting for about 30 percent of the world's smartphone chips.
Table 1Global Smartphone New Product (AP / SOC / Baseband) Shipment Share, Q1 2022
Counterpoint Research said that despite relatively low yields in the leading 4nm process node, Samsung Foundry led smartphone chip shipments in the leading process node, 4nm and 5nm, with a 60 percent share, followed by TSMC with a 40 percent share in the first quarter of 2022.
The report says Samsung's 4nm shipments Foundry are driven by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which gained more than 75 percent share in the Samsung Galaxy S22 series in just one quarter. Samsung foundries also benefited from a newer 5nm-based mid-range 5G chip, the Exynos 1280, for its higher-capacity Galaxy A53 and A33 smartphones.
