Apple Shifts Samsung's Position, Becomes The Third SoC Manufacturer In The World

Apple has commissioned TSMC to mass-produce 100 million A15 Bionic chips. (photo: Jimmy Jin / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Last year was a big success for Apple because it launched the iPhone 12 series. This made it a smartphone chipset vendor that managed to overtake Samsung's prestige.

Citing the latest Counterpoint Research report from Wccftech, Friday, September 3, although Apple has managed to overtake Samsung and make it in third place, it is still behind by a significant difference compared to Qualcomm.

The data shows that for the Q2 2021 period, Apple controls 15 percent of the market share in the smartphone chipset category. On the other hand, Samsung lags behind its arch-nemesis, with a 7 percent share over the same period.

Apple's market share actually increased slightly compared to the 13 percent share it had during the same period last year. However, despite the company's best-selling iPhone 12 series, which is driven by its A14 Bionic chipset, Apple continues to lag behind companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek.

Q2 2021 statistics reveal, Qualcomm has more than twice the market share as Apple. Of course this is not surprising, considering that almost every Android flagship phone maker relies on the San Diego chip company for its Snapdragon SoC lineup.

However, Apple's smartphone chipset market share fell from 17 percent to 15 percent in the previous quarter. This is because consumers may delay their purchases in anticipation of the release of the iPhone 13 series, which will feature the next generation A15 Bionic.

One of the reports revealed that Apple had commissioned TSMC to mass-produce 100 million A15 Bionic chips and asked its supply chain to increase production of the iPhone 13 by 20 percent, compared to the iPhone 12 series.

The figure shows that Apple anticipates strong demand for the iPhone 13 lineup, which could increase the chipset's market share. The company also plans to launch the iPhone SE 2022 at a low price. This is Apple's strategy to target consumers who are looking for cheap phones with advanced technology.

However, still Apple can't hope to plan to overtake Qualcomm or MediaTek, as both manufacturers will continue to have prestige in their class. Regardless, it's impressive that Apple has managed to secure third place globally, despite not selling its A-series chips to any other company.