MediaTek ruffled some feathers when they started partnering up with bigshot device makers, like Acer and ASUS. Their CPUs are cheaper and perform quite well, so even Qualcomm got worried for a bit. Now Spreadtrum is facing a big challenge, as it loses big market share towards MediaTek.
Spreadtrum is all about the EDGE and WCDMA smartphone AP products for emerging markets, but their shipments dropped last year. In early 2014 they dropped again, but Spreadtrum plans a bit of a recovery with baseband integrated tablet APs, released in the following months. Entry level smartphones and tablets are using quad core APs, but Spreadtrum’s 4 core solutions are not yet mature.
That’s why big clients are turning towards MediaTek and that’s why Spreadtrum may face a rough year. Digitimes Research has all this intel available and I should probably mention that once a company like this shows weakness, the other sharks will go in for the kill. Those include Allwinner, Rockhip and probably a few more.
