Apple is not only doing well in the mobile device business, but also in the component one. Turns out that they’re quite the CPU maker, scoring a market share of 21% in the field of smartphone chipsets and 31% for tablets in 2015.
The information comes from the data supplied by Strategy Analytics and reveals that Apple controlled 21% of the smartphone processor market, that shrank 4% to $20.1 billion. This fits Apple between Qualcomm’s leadership position with 42% and MediaTek’s 19%. We’re more interested in the tablets area, where Apple is by far the market leader.
This is reflected by the iPad dominance, granting the Cupertino firm a 31% share of the slate CPUs. Qualcomm is placed second, with 16%, while Intel came in third, with 14%, not very far ahead of MediaTek, that has a similar share. The whole tablet CPU market contracted by 33%, to $2.7 billion, meaning 2015 was the first year for annual decline of such chips.
