Actually, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Co have been working under high pressure for years to close the performance gap compared to Apple's ARM chips in their processors for Android smartphones.Now they could be left behind because of the war in Ukraine.
According to a report by the Taiwanese industry service DigiTimes, sources associated with the major manufacturers of ARM processors for mobile devices assume that Apple could benefit from the current poor economic situation as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the resulting sharp drop in demand.in terms of its leadership in mobile chips.
3nm chips from Qualcomm & MediaTek only next year?
According to the sources, Qualcomm and MediaTek could postpone the introduction of the first processors with a structural width of just three nanometers because demand for mobile devices has plummeted.
This would make Apple the only manufacturer that can install 3nm SoCs in its iPhones and other products for the time being.
The US computer group could therefore increase the gap to the Android-based competition again, they say.
For Qualcomm, the question should currently be whether it is worth switching to production with a structure width of three nanometers at the world's largest contract manufacturer TSMC this year.
Apple is certainly the first buyer of such chips, but also has significantly better prospects of being able to continue to sell them successfully in its next-generation iPhones, despite comparatively high prices.
Qualcomm, on the other hand, has reportedly not yet made a final decision because the prospects in the smartphone market outside of Apple are currently anything but rosy.
Because TSMC charges more than 20,000 dollars for each wafer with 3nm chips, the question is said to be whether this is currently worthwhile given the low demand for Android devices.
Falling demand puts cost pressure on Qualcomm
Instead, Qualcomm could decide not to launch 3nm SoCs until next year and stick to 4nm-scale manufacturing for now.
This would also allow the company more cost control and an opportunity to sell off existing inventory of current processors, industry sources speculate.
Qualcomm had actually just closed the performance gap to Apple's A16 Bionic with the recently introduced Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 high-end SoC.
At least in various benchmark tests, the two top SoCs from the competing manufacturers are now practically on par in terms of CPU and GPU performance.
This is also due to the fact that Apple hasn't made a big leap in terms of performance recently.
Major customer Samsung could force Qualcomm to upgrade
Should Apple take another big step this year with the switch to manufacturing its chips with a structure width of just three nanometers, Qualcomm is likely to lose ground again, according to some observers.
However, if Samsung, as the largest buyer of Qualcomm's high-end SoCs, decides that it absolutely wants to install a 3nm chip in the successor to the Galaxy S23, Qualcomm could be forced to upgrade in terms of process technology despite the higher costs.
MediaTek, the largest manufacturer of ARM chips for mobile devices in terms of quantities, is likely to be at the bottom in this context anyway since the Taiwanese company traditionally generates its sales from the sale of cheaper chips and does not sell its high-end chips in larger quantities.
MediaTek is currently having its flagship SoC Dimensity 9200 produced by TSMC on a 4nm scale, but since MediaTek's customers in particular are cost-conscious, the company's switch to 3nm production will probably take a little longer anyway, according to the sources.