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elctrnx_lyf
MediaTek is the one company which has already proved this. They have the ...
deans_#1
In terms of the debate suggested by @resistion, I'm hard over on the 3D SoC. ...
Integrated chips fuel smartphone growth
Rick Merritt
4/19/2011 2:07 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Silicon integration will be the key differentiator in smartphones which could grow to 600 million units in 2014, driven by expansion in low-cost handsets, according to a presentation at the inaugural Linley Tech Mobile Conference here.
"The next 300 million smartphones will come from feature phone replacements," said Linley Gwennap, principal of The Linley Group (Mountain View, Calif.), organizer of the event. "The pressure for smartphone designers will be in reducing systems cost to meet this growing demand for lower cost smartphones and silicon integration is a key," Gwennap said.
Much of the integration will come from combining application and baseband processors. By 2014 nearly 70 percent of all smartphones will use such integrated chips, up from 40 percent in 2010, Gwennap predicted.
Such chips will be key as designers try to hit prices as low as $100 for smartphones sold in emerging markets. Meanwhile, "the percentage of the market you can address with stand-alone application and baseband processors is slowly diminishing" to about 80 to 100 million units a year, Gwennap said.
"We totally believe most of the growth will come from integrated processors," said Raj Talluri, a senior Qualcomm manager at the event. "We did some analysis of the smartphone tiers and found greater than 50 percent of the market is for handsets costing less than $150--and that segment is growing.
"When you get into that class the BoM doesn't support standalone apps and modem processors," Talluri added.
LG, Motorola and Samsung are among the largest feature phone vendors and thus best positioned for the next round of smartphone growth. Qualcomm and Marvell led the move to integrated application and baseband processors and along with Broadcom and ST Ericsson own the pieces required for next-generation integrated chips, Gwennap said.
Qualcomm is shifting from a four- to a three-chip smartphone set in 2012 with separate devices for digital, RF and analog, he added. However many integrated chips may actually use multiple die in a package.
Next: Quad-core chips too hot
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resistion
4/19/2011 9:43 PM EDT
SoC or SiP debate will resume.
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hm
4/19/2011 11:07 PM EDT
Low cost smart phone functionality without data plan is need of the hour. This is very true for teenage students. They need 4 inch, multitouch, Android 2.x, Wi-Fi feature phone without data plan at around $150.
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deans_#1
4/22/2011 3:45 PM EDT
As monolithic 3D is now becoming a practical reality, we'll be seeing the cost / power consumption / package footprint trade-offs changing dramatically. www.monolithic3d.com
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deans_#1
4/22/2011 3:46 PM EDT
In terms of the debate suggested by @resistion, I'm hard over on the 3D SoC. Packaging and 2.5d integration is only a short term stepping stone.
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elctrnx_lyf
4/24/2011 3:37 PM EDT
MediaTek is the one company which has already proved this. They have the processors which are targeted low cost 2G handsets which actually have the integrated application and broadband processors. It is sure that all the OEM's actually require a lesser chip solution foe the smart phone designs.
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