January 14 2022: An analysis by Manish Rawat, Senior Analyst,TechArc, based on the smartphone model launches in 2021 shows increasing preference of OEMs towards opting for multiple chipset suppliers for their smartphone portfolio.
Increasingly, smartphone makers are diversifying the risks by going with multiple chip makers.
MediaTek led with 81 smartphone models launched on their chipset against Qualcomm which saw 51 launches in India.  Realme, Samsung and Motorola had three chipset suppliers for the smartphones launched in 2021.
Among key smartphone makers Apple, Xiaomi, Tecno, Infinix, LG, Asus and iQoo remained with single chipset supplier in 2021.
The chipset landscape is changing fast as we see OEMs now becoming a competition to the fabless chipset makers. Though in 2021 the trend just started to emerge with no major impact on the market, 2022 and beyond OEMs are likely to strengthen their own chipset roadmaps reducing dependability on the SoC makers.
While this gives OEMs better control on creating differentiation right at the core of the product, the opportunity for chipset makers especially in premium and flagship products is likely to squeeze as these OEMs are introducing them with proprietary chipsets.

Read Techarc’s full study here