MediaTek can't get over Qualcomm, and there are still domestic chips chasing behind

If a domestic chip wanted to catch up with Qualcomm a few years ago, it would have been considered a pipe dream. However, it now seems that Huawei's Kirin flagship chip has at least caught up with Qualcomm's flagship in performance, and the main lag is in baseband performance.

If there are domestic chips other than Kirin that are said to have surpassed MediaTek in all aspects, you might think carefully, who else besides Kirin can have such confidence? After all, the newly emerged Pinecone Surge S1 under Xiaomi is only comparable to MediaTek's P10. But Spreadtrum, which recently embraced Intel's thigh and used Intel's 14nm process and Airmont processor architecture to make the SC9861G-IA chip, shouted the slogan of surpassing MediaTek. Their CEO Li Li lobbied: Spreadtrum's solution must be 100% better than MediaTek's solution, including MediaTek's latest X30 solution!

When Spreadtrum CEO Li Liyou said this, Spreadtrum had just reached a cooperation with Dialog Semiconductor of the UK. Dialog Semiconductor is a leader in the field of power management, Bluetooth, and LED lighting. Apple iPhone has always used Dialog Semiconductor's power management chip. In this cooperation, Dialog Semiconductor customized the power management chip SC2705 for the SC9861G-IA chip.

However, the current situation is that the SC9861G-IA chip will not be shipped until the second half of this year, and MediaTek's X30 has also been delayed due to the immaturity of the 10nm process. So at the consumer level, we still can't see which of these two chip solutions will win or lose.

Spreadtrum faces great challenges. First, the brand has always been associated with low-end and mid-range chips, and has been weak in high-end development, so it is not well-known. Second, although Intel's technology is very advanced, the Airmont processor architecture belonging to X86 has not been proven in the field of smartphones. It is not easy to get mobile phone manufacturers to abandon ARM and switch to X86. Even if Spreadtrum CEO Li Li lobbying, one is that I have (exclusive technology) and others don't; the other is that when everyone is doing well, we are cheaper.

Back to MediaTek. Last year, MediaTek's X20 and X25 were beaten by Qualcomm and Samsung's flagship processors throughout the year. This year, the aggressive use of the immature 10nm process in the X30 led to shipment delays. In short, it has always had the high-end dream but has never been realized. Now even Spreadtrum, which used to be a mid-to-low-end company, has found two helpers, Intel and Dialog Semiconductor, and dares to say "better than the X30 solution". Will MediaTek feel more pressure?

If Spreadtrum can really compete with MediaTek in the high-end market, and still have a price advantage, and Xiaomi and Pinecone can develop in the mid-end market, then the market structure that has been either Qualcomm or MediaTek for the past few years is likely to loosen up again. At present, Spreadtrum's mid-to-high-end products have not yet been shipped, and Pinecone has not yet become popular, but the chip market is already full of thunder, and it is time for all companies to prepare for a rainy day.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.