Top Smartphone Processor Companies
We’ll know about mobile phones because everyone owns a smartphone these days and mobile phones are also becoming mandatory for all of us. In this article, we’re going to discuss the heart of the mobile phone or smartphone i.e., Processor or SoC (System on Chip), along with the top mobile processor companies in the world.
We’ll know about mobiles but many of us don’t know which type of processor or SoC is present within the smartphones. In simple words, Mobile phones are a mixture of both hardware and software, within the hardware one of the main parts i.e., the Processor is beneficial to the processing speed of each task we use the smartphone.
What is a SmartPhone Processor (SoC)?
In computers or laptops, we’re using the CPU (Central Processing Unit) which consists of a chip or Processor, but in mobile phones, we’re using GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), which is an octa core-based Processor or chipset.
Some Processors come with dual-core, quad-core, and Hexacore, but the manufacturing companies majorly use the octa core-based Processors which suggests they’re advanced & very powerful chips.
Octa-core means 8 cores or chips or CPU and therefore the manufacturer sets the clock speed of every core to the requirements of mobile manufacturing companies. And therefore the speed of the mobile depends on the clock speeds of those 8 cores, manufacturers use some powerful cores and a few low-powered cores.
This SoC or Processor consists of billions of transistors within the size of nanometres, we saw 14nm, 10nm, 7nm, and 5nm, 3nm are under manufacturing, and we may even see 2nm within the coming years.
Present 7nm mobile Processors are used in the flagship mobiles. One nanometre means 10^-9 or one part during a billion or one-billionth part, which suggests a really very small size of transistors are utilized in these chips. and every one of these SoCs came with 64-bit CPUs.
Not just one or two companies are manufacturing these mobile Processors or SoCs but numerous companies are manufacturing these Processors, some major smartphone companies or brands also are on this list. we had a complete article on the system on chip in smartphones, you can also check out the article.
There are mainly 7 types of mobile Processor Companies, which are given below.
List of Mobile Processor Manufacturing Companies:
Mainly there are two types of operating systems present in the present smartphones, they are iOS & Android. The processors or chipsets for these two operating systems are different from each other.
1. Apple Bionic SoC
Here iOS or iPhones are completely different from Android phones’ software and hardware. iPhones have their own software and hardware parts, so Processors in iPhones are manufactured by Apple only.
And that they named their SoC as Bionic A-series chips and that they are the foremost powerful chips within the mobile world. And that they use ARM Cortex CPU cores in their Processors.
Within the present mobile market, Apple bionic chips are the best chips in terms of performance and benchmarks. Bionic chips are best for gaming also. So Apple Bionic SoC’s are the fastest Processor for mobile phones.
But so many of us are using Android mobiles for numerous reasons, therefore the market share of Android is quite an iPhone, and Android mobile manufacturers are more in number, therefore the number of SoC manufacturers for Android is additionally more in number.
Apple makes the world’s best processor phone now, they make great hardware as well as software. To Know more about Apple Bionic chips, visit Wikipedia’s official site for more details.
Major Android Smartphone Processor Companies are given below
2. Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC
Qualcomm is the top mobile Processor manufacturing company in the world then many Android mobiles are using these Snapdragon named Qualcomm SoC. These Snapdragon chips use the ARM Cortex CPU with high-powered Kryo cores in their SoCs. And these Snapdragon processors have powerful Adreno GPU compared with the other chips.
Therefore the performance of those chips also is excellent and best for gaming. Snapdragon processors are the best mobile processors in the Android category.
Qualcomm also released their new upper midrange chipsets in 7 series like the Snapdragon 750G, 765G, 775G, 7 Gen 1, 7 Gen 2, etc. They are also good at performance and they come at a low price compared with flagship chipsets.
3. MediaTek Dimensity SoC
It is also a mobile SoC manufacturing company and therefore these chips aren’t as powerful because of the bionic and Qualcomm chips but they provide us with decent performance and the price of those chips is low compared with Qualcomm chips.
And MediaTek recently started their new series of gaming mobiles in the mid-range price category. And also they launched their new 5G series on Dimensity Named chips, they are very good at performance. Now, this Mediatek also provides some best value-for-money chipsets in the mobile market.
Helio SoC also uses the octa-core ARM Cortex CPU cores and Mali GPU. These chips also are good for gaming but some heating issues are faced by using these chips.
4. Samsung Exynos SoC
We’ll realize Samsung because Samsung is the leading mobile market share within the world and that they manufacture their own SoC named Exynos Processors.
These Exynos SoCs aren’t very much like powerful because of the above chips but the day-to-day performance is sweet and these chips aren’t much use to gaming also, Samsung majorly focuses on the display and cameras compared with SoC in their mobiles in order that they are using this Exynos chips in their mobiles.
But in some countries just like the US, they launch their mobiles with Snapdragon SoCs only due to taxes and therefore the people in such countries do not buy the mobiles with weak SoC for gaming and heavy performance. This Exynos SoC also came with octa-core ARM Cortex CPU cores and Mali GPU.
The recent Samsung chipset is also good at performance compared with the last generations of Exynos chipsets. We will make some more improvements to their Exynos chipsets in the near future.
5. Google Tensor SoC
Google Tensor is a custom-designed system-on-chip (SoC) processor developed by Google for its Pixel smartphones. It was first introduced in the Pixel 6 series in 2021, and has since been used in the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 series.
Tensor is designed to be more efficient and powerful than previous Pixel processors, and to enable new AI-powered features and experiences. It includes a number of custom-designed components, including a new TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) for machine learning, a new GPU for graphics processing, and a new ISP (image signal processor) for image processing.
6. HiSilicon Kirin SoC
These Kirin chips are seen in Huawei and Honor mobiles and they manufacture their own SoC named Kirin these chips also are powerful as Qualcomm chips.
Kirin SoC uses the ARM Cortex-based CPU with high-powered cores and Mali GPU, therefore the GPU performance isn’t as powerful as Qualcomm SoC’s but the performance is sweet in Kirin chips. They also compete with Qualcomm SoCs in terms of benchmarks.
But after the ban in the US, Huawei products are not much used globally, but in China still, Huawei is the top smartphone brand.
7. UNISOC SoC
Unisoc is a Chinese semiconductor company that designs chips for mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Unisoc processors are known for being affordable and power-efficient. They are often used in budget and mid-range smartphones. However, Unisoc also offers high-end processors, such as the Tiger T770, which is used in some flagship smartphones.
Unisoc processors are becoming increasingly popular, especially in emerging markets. This is due to their affordability and the fact that they support 5G networks.
Here is a summary of Unisoc’s processor lineup:
- Entry-level: T180, T190
- Budget: T310, T606, T610, T612, T616, T618
- Mid-range: T770, T760
- Flagship: T860
Top 5 Mobile Processor Companies (Brands) 2023
The global smartphone processor market size grew from $17.62 billion in 2022 to $20.39 billion in 2023. The market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% from 2023 to 2027, reaching $40.88 billion by 2027. [source: The Business Research Company]
According to Counterpoint Research, as of Q2 2023, Mediatek is leading in terms of the number of shipments followed by Qualcomm, Apple, UNISOC, Samsung, and Hisilicon.
| Global Smartphone Chipset Market Share (Q1 2022 – Q2 2023) | ||||||
| Brands | Q1 2022 | Q2 2022 | Q3 2022 | Q4 2022 | Q1 2023 | Q2 2023 |
| Mediatek | 36% | 36% | 35% | 33% | 33% | 30% |
| Qualcomm | 34% | 32% | 32% | 19% | 27% | 29% |
| Apple | 14% | 13% | 16% | 28% | 26% | 19% |
| UNISOC | 11% | 11% | 9% | 11% | 8% | 15% |
| Samsung | 5% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 4% | 7% |
| HiSilicon (Huawei) |
1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Others | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
MediaTek and Qualcomm are the two biggest players in the smartphone processor market, followed by Apple and Samsung. The premium segment of the market is also growing, which means that there is a growing demand for high-performance smartphone processors.
Overall, the smartphone Application Processor market is a dynamic and growing market. There is a huge potential in coming years as well and the usage of smartphones is increasing very rapidly and demand for smartphones is increasing exponentially.
Conclusion
These are the main smartphone SoC manufacturing companies and their details, so before buying the mobile just take a glance at the System on Chip (SoC) first, because “Processor (SoC) is the heart of any mobile”, then remaining all.
Your mobile performance & speed are completely dependent on the Processor, RAM, and storage type used in the mobile.
Not only hardware components but also the software is very important on a mobile phone for a smooth experience. You must choose between Android or iOS before going to buy a new mobile phone.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Which mobile processor company is best?
Still, Apple Bionic Chipsets are the best in the present market, and then Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets.
2. Which company makes a mobile processor?
Qualcomm, MediaTek, Apple, Samsung, Hisilicon, etc.
3. Is the Snapdragon better than Exynos?
Yes, Qualcomm Snapdragon Processors are better than Samsung Exynos Processors in many aspects.
4. Which is the best processor, MediaTek or Snapdragon?
Snapdragon flagship Chipsets are still the better choice in the flagship mobile category, but the Mediatek Budget chips are way better than Snapdragon chips.
