Today we published our full calendar year 2011 tablet apps processor market share numbers. Based on our estimates, the global tablet apps processor market registered a staggering 230 percent year-on-year growth in 2011.

With Apple expected to announce its iPad 3 product today, the tablet market is poised for accelerated growth in the coming quarters. We expect strong efforts from Amazon, Google and Microsoft will serve as key catalysts for the non-Apple tablet vendors in 2012.  The main component beneficiaries are likely to be existing leaders TI and NVIDIA and catch-up players Intel and Qualcomm.

Some key highlights from our global tablet apps processor quarterly market share tracker:

• Apple, Texas Instruments (TI), NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Samsung featured in our top-five tablet apps processor market share rankings.

• In terms of architecture split, ARM-based processors accounted for approximately 98 percent of total tablet apps processor shipments in 2011, by our estimates. Key x86 players Intel and AMD are both expected to participate actively in Android 4.0 and Windows 8 based tablets this year.

• Apple led the applications processor market with 59 percent shipment share in 2011 on the strength of strong global demand for its iPad 2 product. Apple faced strong competition from chip suppliers to Android-based tablets, particularly in the second half of 2011.

In the non-Apple tablet apps processor market, TI and NVIDIA grabbed the lion’s share in 2011. TI led the non-iPad tablet apps processor market with 35 percent share followed by NVIDIA with 34 percent share in 2011;

• TI’s tablet success can be attributed to its high-volume design-wins at Amazon (Kindle Fire) and Barnes & Noble (Nook).

• In contrast to the smartphone market, NVIDIA performed well in the tablet market, thanks to its design-wins at Acer, Asus, Samsung, Sony, LG, Motorola, Toshiba and others. NVIDIA is well positioned to capture further share in tablets with its quad-core Tegra 3 processor in 2012.

• The smartphone processor market leader Qualcomm and the PC processor market leader Intel both missed the tablet boat in 2011. We believe that Qualcomm is well-positioned to capture meaningful share in LTE tablets and Windows 8 tablets in 2012. Intel is also expected to ramp up its tablet activity in 2012 to defend its dominant share in Windows PCs.

• We think Broadcom, ST-Ericsson, MediaTek, Marvell and Renesas need to improve their tablet market focus in 2012 as these companies haven’t scored significant tablet design-wins so far.

Last week, we released our smartphone apps processor market share data. Based on our estimates, the smartphone apps processor market showed a strong 70 percent year-on-year growth to reach $7.9 billion in 2011.
 
Some key highlights from our 2011 global smartphone apps processor market share tracker:

• Qualcomm, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Marvell, Broadcom and NVIDIA grabbed the top-six smartphone apps processor revenue share rankings in 2011.

• For the first time, on an annual basis, Qualcomm topped the smartphone apps  processor market in unit terms in 2011, snatching the long-held crown from Texas Instruments. Qualcomm continued its revenue share lead in 2011 and captured approximately 50 percent revenue share. Qualcomm’s broad Snapdragon processor portfolio and excellent relationships with almost all top-tier smartphone vendors helped Qualcomm to gain market share during 2011.

• Broadcom stormed into the top-five rankings in 2011 for the first time, thanks to its high-volume Android design-wins. Broadcom’s apps processor shipments showed over 500 percent year-on-year growth in 2011. We believe that Broadcom can improve its market share further if it continues to execute well.

• New entrant NVIDIA performed well in its first year in smartphones and finished as the number six player in both unit terms and revenue terms in 2011. Despite its first mover advantage with dual-core processors, NVIDIA lost momentum in the second half of 2011.

• MediaTek showed significant improvement in 2011, thanks to its new HSPA smartphone processor MT6573. However, we believe that MediaTek has some catchup to do to compete effectively in the high-end market.

• ST-Ericsson struggled in 2011 and finished the year with less than 1 percent revenue share. The company couldn't capitalize on its renewed product portfolio in 2011. ST-Ericsson's outlook is challenged and the company needs to execute flawlessly this year to get back into the game. We believe that ST-Ericsson's Nova and NovaThor processors have the potential to be an attractive alternative to Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors and it all depends on ST-Ericsson's execution this year.

• Stand-alone applications processors accounted for 40 percent of total smartphone applications processor revenues in 2011 and out-grew baseband-integrated applications processors, thanks to Apple, Samsung, Texas Instruments, NVIDIA and Qualcomm.

Looking ahead, we believe that key market trends such as multi price-tier smartphones, emerging markets and new generation CPU and GPU technologies will create opportunities for smartphone apps processor vendors.

Sravan Kundojjala

Client reading: Smartphone Apps Processor Market Share 2011: Qualcomm Takes the Lead in Units and Revenue