MediaTek now accounts for almost half of chipset shipments, as Qualcomm suffers yet another decline

Chip manufacturer MediaTek has further extended its lead over rival Qualcomm. The Taiwanese tech company recently reached new heights in terms of market share and shows no signs of slowing down.

According to a report by tracking firm Counterpoint Research, MediaTek increased its market share to 43% in Q2 of 2021. The report accounts for the total number of processors shipped worldwide. In comparison, Qualcomm’s market share shrunk to 24% in the same quarter. The numbers show MediaTek gained an 8% share in just the last quarter, while Qualcomm lost 5%.

But it isn’t all bad news for Qualcomm. The company is still the leader as far as 5G baseband modems go, with a 55% market share compared to MediaTek’s 30%. Even so, both companies see an increase of 16% and 19% respectively.

Taiwanese company MediaTek overtook Qualcomm in the processor market back in 2020. The chip manufacturer focuses on the mid-range and budget segment. Recently the company told journalists that it will start focusing on flagship processors as well, with MediaTek “pushing the technology envelope.”


Prior to MediaTek overtaking Qualcomm, the latter was the worldwide leader in mobile processors shipments for years. Qualcomm is still the go-to chip manufacturer for big smartphone companies like Samsung and Xiaomi. The company dominates the flagship chip market but is struggling to keep up with demand due to the chip shortages.

A competitive flagship-level processor by MediaTek could further improve its lead over Snapdragon. The company has proved itself capable of designing affordable, yet powerful processors with its highly successful MediaTek Dimensity series. Smartphone manufacturers using Dimensity chips include OnePlus, Oppo, and Vivo.

Time will tell if Qualcomm can bounce back, or if MediaTek’s top spot will last. Smartphone brands are starting to follow Apple’s example and strive to design their own processors. Recently, Samsung has been making the moves on releasing a flagship processor in collaboration with AMD. Google has also revealed its upcoming Pixel 6 series will be powered by an in-house developed Tensor chip which has been in the works for years. All of this means that Qualcomm and MediaTek might not stay the biggest chipset players for long.