Samsung is not particularly known for its Exynos processors, but it was still among the top three brands last year due to the sheer number of Galaxy devices it shipped with its in-house chipsets. However, the company's market share seems to have slipped a bit in the third quarter of this year.
According to the latest numbers from Counterpoint Research, Samsung's market share dropped from 16% in Q3 2019 to 12% in Q3 2020. The company is still placed in the third position, but it is now joined by Apple and Huawei's HiSilicon. Surprisingly, MediaTek overtook Qualcomm in the third quarter to take the global smartphone chipset throne. MediaTek had a 31% share of the market, while Qualcomm had a 29% share of the market. MediaTek appears to have done really well in markets like India and Latin America, especially in the $100-$250 price segment.
Despite shipping its new Exynos 980 and Exynos 880 chipsets to Vivo, Samsung's market share slipped. This could be due to Samsung's own smartphone division using more Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets this year. Even next year, the company is expected to launch mid-range phones like the Galaxy A52 and the Galaxy A72 with Snapdragon processors.
Hopefully, Samsung's semiconductor division will be able to win back the smartphone division's trust with upcoming chips like the Exynos 1080. The company is also scheduled to unveil the Exynos 2100 processor on January 12, and it is rumored to be quite a performer, and that's good considering the Exynos 990 blunder. With 5G-capable chipsets like the Exynos 980, Exynos 1080, and Exynos 2100, the only thing that Samsung seems to be missing out on is a good entry-level chipset.
