A Tug of War: Qualcomm Vs MediaTek

MediaTek and Qualcomm are two of the most top rated smartphone processor provider in the world, with both of them trying to fight neck-to-neck to lead in their respective smartphone categories.

MediaTek is a Taiwanese company with similarly in the same business as Qualcomm, with just one exception. MediaTek’s market base is stronger in Asia and Africa than elsewhere. It is also for a fact that neither Qualcomm nor MediaTek actually make their own silicon wafers but rather primarily concentrate on actual research and design.

Qualcomm and MediaTek are both distinct brands in the smartphone chipset market supplying the crucial application processors essential for smartphones to function.

In terms of market share, both companies are dominant players, accounting for over 50% of the smartphone application processor market combined. Qualcomm has its renowned Snapdragon series of chipsets while MediaTek has the featured Helios and expanded Dimensity lineup. However, MediaTek has been more successful with its lineup, securing design wins with major smartphone manufacturers leading to it gaining share at the expense of Qualcomm. With this, I begin my fondness towards MediaTek, over the likes of Qualcomm processors.

Both companies supply to Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, hence giving touch competition to each other. The exposure that MediaTek has obtained from its relationship with Chinese smartphone manufacturers, Xiaomi and Oppo, has been highly beneficial as these companies are able to capture a very huge segment in the market.

MediaTek has been able to deepen its relationship with Chinese smartphone manufacturers by securing new design wins, especially with its more recent 5G Dimensity lineup. Qualcomm on the other hand, has had an early advantage, is starting to feel the need to stand at par, or at least close.

As far as the premium tier chipset from both the companies is concerned, the Snapdragon 888 is Qualcomm’s latest and most advanced chipset which is compared to MediaTek’s Dimensity 1000 series. The one thing clear from all benchmark scores and statistics is that MediaTek is currently the market leader, while Qualcomm might be the more profitable company.

There is no doubt about the market share trends, that are favouring MediaTek due to its expanded product lineup of affordable 5G chipsets securing design wins with Chinese smartphone manufacturers and Samsung.

Also in terms of something as important as cost, MediaTek is clearly the winner in this aspect. MediaTek chipsets have always been priced much less at the same level of performance as the Snapdragon chipsets. This is also one of the major reasons for most smartphones to enable a MediaTek powered chipset, especially in the budget category of smartphones, that too, without compromising with the all-around top notch performance.

The MediaTek chipsets have also got a better saving for power. The Qualcomm Snapdragon processors are notorious for their heating issues, which in turns drains the device battery much faster.

Now, in terms of technology, both MediaTek processors as well as the Snapdragon chipsets are very powerful and efficient. MediaTek’s progress has been very swift in terms of growth, development and therefore its popularity increased. It does not come as a surprise, if MediaTek overpowers its closest of competitors. Talking in regards to the current scenario, it is quite safe to say that the MediaTek processors are much better than the ones produced by Qualcomm due to a number of factors and comparisons like core, cost, battery, and performance.