Mobile Phone Platform (Baseband) Industry Report, 2006-2007
In 2006, China's mobile phone output reached 455 million units, accounting for 43.75% of global total of 1.04 billion units. And baseband is the heart of semiconductor devices of mobile phone.
The developing trends of mobile phone baseband are as follows:
1. Integration level is about to be further improved. Currently, RF transceiver (small signal) has been integrated into the baseband, and in the future, RF front end is also expected to be integrated into the baseband, for which, Texas Instruments (TI), Infineon and Qualcomm are the uppermost drivers. TI depends on their unique DRP RF and the latter two depend on CMOS RF. CMOS RF is not as good as SiGe RF in performance but more powerful in cost, power consumption, size and flexibility, especially, mobile phone is more sensitive to the price, which drives CMOS RF to enjoy an increasingly growing utilization rate. However, performance and cost should keep balanced, there are also some limitations for CMOS RF application, so it is estimated that no more than 50% of medium- and high-grade mobile phones apply CMOS RF while 100% of low-grade mobile phones are likely to use CMOS RF.
2. Manufactures are trying to reduce R&D costs. Mobile phone price war results in that baseband manufacturers have to reduce costs constantly. One way is to combining already matured baseband products with RF and other modules together such as Infineon PMB7870, TI LOCOSTO and ECOSTO, and Qualcomm QSC series. Another way is to launch simplified version and remove unnecessary functions, such as MTK MT6626, MT6205 and MT6227.
3. Light and multimedia-oriented mobile phones, in particular, 3G and feature phones slather application processor. 3G phone requires heavy operation load, plus consumption of multimedia operations, therefore resulting in mobile phone design to have a long period and high cost. Besides, some multimedia is impossible to get integrated, such as video amplifier and video codec needed by TV phone. Feature phones are distinctive in music, camera, vidicon, TV and GPS, but highly-integrated multimedia phones are not flexible enough and have difficulties in responding swiftly to the changing markets, while application processor can manage these. Furthermore, in order to capture more markets, price of application processor is cut to be so low that costs of application processor plus simplified baseband are even lower than that of baseband integrated into many multimedia functions.
4. The baseband industry has been more concentrated. Taiwan-based manufacturers try to depend on TD-SCDMA to tap into this industry. Skyworks is the first to drop out of baseband industry. Skyworks earned USD 142 million from baseband business in 2004 and USD 123 million in 2005 but then such revenue decreased sharply to USD 50 million in 2006, which seemed to be caused by dived shipment of its partner TechFaith, but was actually because Lenovo that adopted the solutions of Skeworks went to MTK. As a result, Skyworks decided resolvedly to drop out of this field in order to avoid spending high cost to maintain such business. Silicon Labs comes to the second one. NXP purchased its mobile phone business at USD 285 million, mainly the AeroFONE single chip phone, Aero transceiver and amplifier. NXP is most interested in the RFCMOS that is of a great help for NXP to develop single chip phone in the future. And actually, Qualcomm can not launch QSC series until purchasing a company with RFCMOS technology.
It is uncertain when China can establish TD-SCDMA network nationwide, but the earliest date should be after 2008. As it has to take one year to test after the trial network get completed and another year to make network construction, TD-SCDMA phone is not brought into the market in a large scale until at least 2010.
Most of TD-SCDMA phone developers are looking on the progress of TD-SCDMA network in view of some existing uncertainties.
This report also makes an analysis of application of baseband of over 200 types of China's local mobile phones.
The developing trends of mobile phone baseband are as follows:
1. Integration level is about to be further improved. Currently, RF transceiver (small signal) has been integrated into the baseband, and in the future, RF front end is also expected to be integrated into the baseband, for which, Texas Instruments (TI), Infineon and Qualcomm are the uppermost drivers. TI depends on their unique DRP RF and the latter two depend on CMOS RF. CMOS RF is not as good as SiGe RF in performance but more powerful in cost, power consumption, size and flexibility, especially, mobile phone is more sensitive to the price, which drives CMOS RF to enjoy an increasingly growing utilization rate. However, performance and cost should keep balanced, there are also some limitations for CMOS RF application, so it is estimated that no more than 50% of medium- and high-grade mobile phones apply CMOS RF while 100% of low-grade mobile phones are likely to use CMOS RF.
2. Manufactures are trying to reduce R&D costs. Mobile phone price war results in that baseband manufacturers have to reduce costs constantly. One way is to combining already matured baseband products with RF and other modules together such as Infineon PMB7870, TI LOCOSTO and ECOSTO, and Qualcomm QSC series. Another way is to launch simplified version and remove unnecessary functions, such as MTK MT6626, MT6205 and MT6227.
3. Light and multimedia-oriented mobile phones, in particular, 3G and feature phones slather application processor. 3G phone requires heavy operation load, plus consumption of multimedia operations, therefore resulting in mobile phone design to have a long period and high cost. Besides, some multimedia is impossible to get integrated, such as video amplifier and video codec needed by TV phone. Feature phones are distinctive in music, camera, vidicon, TV and GPS, but highly-integrated multimedia phones are not flexible enough and have difficulties in responding swiftly to the changing markets, while application processor can manage these. Furthermore, in order to capture more markets, price of application processor is cut to be so low that costs of application processor plus simplified baseband are even lower than that of baseband integrated into many multimedia functions.
4. The baseband industry has been more concentrated. Taiwan-based manufacturers try to depend on TD-SCDMA to tap into this industry. Skyworks is the first to drop out of baseband industry. Skyworks earned USD 142 million from baseband business in 2004 and USD 123 million in 2005 but then such revenue decreased sharply to USD 50 million in 2006, which seemed to be caused by dived shipment of its partner TechFaith, but was actually because Lenovo that adopted the solutions of Skeworks went to MTK. As a result, Skyworks decided resolvedly to drop out of this field in order to avoid spending high cost to maintain such business. Silicon Labs comes to the second one. NXP purchased its mobile phone business at USD 285 million, mainly the AeroFONE single chip phone, Aero transceiver and amplifier. NXP is most interested in the RFCMOS that is of a great help for NXP to develop single chip phone in the future. And actually, Qualcomm can not launch QSC series until purchasing a company with RFCMOS technology.
It is uncertain when China can establish TD-SCDMA network nationwide, but the earliest date should be after 2008. As it has to take one year to test after the trial network get completed and another year to make network construction, TD-SCDMA phone is not brought into the market in a large scale until at least 2010.
Most of TD-SCDMA phone developers are looking on the progress of TD-SCDMA network in view of some existing uncertainties.
This report also makes an analysis of application of baseband of over 200 types of China's local mobile phones.
1 Brief introduction to China's mobile phone industry
1.1 Overview of mobile phone industry
1.2 Overview of China's mobile phone industry
1.3 Overview of Chinese mobile phone market in 2006
2 Brief introductions to baseband industry and market
2.1 Baseband
2.2 Developing trend of mobile phone communication protocol
2.3 Developing trend of mobile phone baseband
3 General situation of mobile phone platform market
3.1 Global mobile phone platform market
3.2 Chinese mobile phone platform market
3.3 Profiles of mobile phone platforms of leading mobile phone manufacturers
3.3.1 Bird
3.3.2 Lenovo
3.3.3 TCL
3.3.4 Amoi
3.3.5 Konka
3.3.6 Telsda, Gionee
3.3.7 Others
3.4 TD-SCDMA phone
4 Mobile phone platform manufacturers
4.1 Qualcomm
4.2 TI
4.3 Freescale
4.4 Agere
4.5 Ericsson Mobile Platforms
4.6 ADI
4.7 Infineon
4.8 NXP
4.9 MTK
4.10 Sunplus mMobile Inc
4.11 T3G
4.12 Spreadtrum
4.13 Commit
5 Mobile phone design companies
5.1 TechFaith
5.2 Long Cheer
5.3 Sim Tech
5.4 Ginwave Tech
5.5 Yuhua TelTech
Tables/Figures
Operation Flow of Mobile Phone Manufacturers
Basic Structure of Mobile Phone
Developing Trend of Air Interface of Communication Protocol
Forecast of Development of Communication Protocol Standard
Development Roadmap of Mobile Phone Kernel
Evolvement of GSM Digital Baseband Technology and Forecast, 1994-2008F
Framework of DRF RF
Market Share of Global Leading Mobile Phone Platform Makers by Revenue, 2006
Market Share of Global Leading Mobile Phone Platform Makers by Shipment, 2006
Patent Licensed Manufacturers of Qualcomm's WCDMA
Framework of CALYPSO
Interior Structure of CALYPSO
Interior Structure of TCS2300
Interior Structure of TCS2305
Interior Structure of OMAPV1035
Software Structure of OMPAV Series
Framework of Freescale 3G Phone
Quarterly Revenue Structure of AGERE by Product, 2006
Revenue Structure of AGERE by Division, 2006Q4
Main Clients of AGERE by Field
Roadmap of EMP products
Software Structure of U100
Revenue and Net Profits of ADI, 2002-2006
Application Structure of ADI Products in the Downstream Industries, 2004-2006
Technical Revenue Structure of ADI, 2004-2006
Revenue Structure of ADI by Region, 2006
Framework of AD6900 EDGE
Interior Structure of AD6722
Interior Structure of AD6721
Interior Structure of AD6720
Framework of WCDMA
Framework of TD-SCDMA
AD6525 Functional Modules
AD6525 Application Connection Modules
Internal Module of AD6537
Application Structure of AD6720
Reference Design of ADI TD-SCDMA Mobile Phone
Internal Structure of ADI TD-SCDMA 6901
Revenue and EBIT of Infineon, 2005Q2–2007Q1
Revenue and EBIT of Infineon Communications Division, 2005Q2–2007Q1
Interior Structure of MP-EH
Interior Structure of E-GOLD H3
Interior Structure of PMB7870
Interior Structure of BCM2124
Interior Structure of BCM2133
Framework of BCM2141 and BCM2133
Interior Structure of BCM2152
Interior Structure of BCM2153
Examples of Mobile Phones Adopting NXP Baseband, 2005
Systematic Figure of Nexperia System Solution 5210
Framework of NXP TD-SCDMA and High-end Mobile Phone Solution 7130
Framework of NXP7210
Framework of NXP6100
Interior Structure of PNX5221
Statistical Revenue and Gross Margin of MTK and Forecast, 2001-2007F
Monthly Revenue and Annual Growth Rate of MTK, Jan 2006-Mar 2007
Organizational Structure of MTK
Statistical Revenue Structure of MTK by Product and Forecast, 2005Q1-2007Q4
Statistics of Market Share and Shipment of MTK Mobile Phone Chipset in Mainland and Forecast, 2004-2009F
Application Structure of MT6218B
Interior Structure of MT6218B
Memory Management of MT6218B
Interior Structure of MT6219
Interior Structure of MT6627
Organizational Structure of T3G
Roadmap of T3G Products
Share-holding Structure of Commit
Structure Proportion of Working Period of Employees of Commit
Sketch Map of Commit Chipset
R&D Roadmap of Commit
Interior Structure of TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS Dual-module Baseband of Commit
Revenue Structure of TechFaith, 2005/2006
Quarterly Revenue from Design Fee of TechFaith both at China and Abroad, 2005-2006
Quarterly Revenue from Patent Licensing Fee of TechFaith both at China and Abroad, 2005-2006
Quarterly Product Revenue of TechFaith both at China and Abroad, 2005-2006
Business of TechFaith
Business Mode of TechFaith
Smart Phones of TechFaith
CDMA Product Roadmap of TechFaith
Smart Phone Roadmap of TechFaith
Revenue and Gross Margin of Long Cheer, 2003-2006
Shipment of Long Cheer Cell-phone Suite, 2003-2006
Revenue Structure of Sim Tech
Product list of Yuhua TelTech
Mobile Phone Production and Exports, 2000-2006
Baseband Application List of 33 types of Typical Bird Phones
Baseband Model List of 25 types of Typical Lenovo Phones
Baseband Application List of 27 types of TCL Phones
Baseband Model List of 60 types of Typical Amoi Phones
Baseband Application List of 25 types of Konka Phones
Baseband Application List of 23 types of Telsda Phones
Baseband Application List of 18 types of Gionee Phones
Mobile Phone Baseband Products of Qualcomm
Mobile Phone Platform Products of TI
Mobile Phone Platform Products of ADI
Mobile Phone Baseband Products of ADI
Profiles of Advanced Platforms of Infineon
Mobile Phone Products of Broadcom
MTT6228 Demonstrating Mobile Phone's Configuration
1.1 Overview of mobile phone industry
1.2 Overview of China's mobile phone industry
1.3 Overview of Chinese mobile phone market in 2006
2 Brief introductions to baseband industry and market
2.1 Baseband
2.2 Developing trend of mobile phone communication protocol
2.3 Developing trend of mobile phone baseband
3 General situation of mobile phone platform market
3.1 Global mobile phone platform market
3.2 Chinese mobile phone platform market
3.3 Profiles of mobile phone platforms of leading mobile phone manufacturers
3.3.1 Bird
3.3.2 Lenovo
3.3.3 TCL
3.3.4 Amoi
3.3.5 Konka
3.3.6 Telsda, Gionee
3.3.7 Others
3.4 TD-SCDMA phone
4 Mobile phone platform manufacturers
4.1 Qualcomm
4.2 TI
4.3 Freescale
4.4 Agere
4.5 Ericsson Mobile Platforms
4.6 ADI
4.7 Infineon
4.8 NXP
4.9 MTK
4.10 Sunplus mMobile Inc
4.11 T3G
4.12 Spreadtrum
4.13 Commit
5 Mobile phone design companies
5.1 TechFaith
5.2 Long Cheer
5.3 Sim Tech
5.4 Ginwave Tech
5.5 Yuhua TelTech
Tables/Figures
Operation Flow of Mobile Phone Manufacturers
Basic Structure of Mobile Phone
Developing Trend of Air Interface of Communication Protocol
Forecast of Development of Communication Protocol Standard
Development Roadmap of Mobile Phone Kernel
Evolvement of GSM Digital Baseband Technology and Forecast, 1994-2008F
Framework of DRF RF
Market Share of Global Leading Mobile Phone Platform Makers by Revenue, 2006
Market Share of Global Leading Mobile Phone Platform Makers by Shipment, 2006
Patent Licensed Manufacturers of Qualcomm's WCDMA
Framework of CALYPSO
Interior Structure of CALYPSO
Interior Structure of TCS2300
Interior Structure of TCS2305
Interior Structure of OMAPV1035
Software Structure of OMPAV Series
Framework of Freescale 3G Phone
Quarterly Revenue Structure of AGERE by Product, 2006
Revenue Structure of AGERE by Division, 2006Q4
Main Clients of AGERE by Field
Roadmap of EMP products
Software Structure of U100
Revenue and Net Profits of ADI, 2002-2006
Application Structure of ADI Products in the Downstream Industries, 2004-2006
Technical Revenue Structure of ADI, 2004-2006
Revenue Structure of ADI by Region, 2006
Framework of AD6900 EDGE
Interior Structure of AD6722
Interior Structure of AD6721
Interior Structure of AD6720
Framework of WCDMA
Framework of TD-SCDMA
AD6525 Functional Modules
AD6525 Application Connection Modules
Internal Module of AD6537
Application Structure of AD6720
Reference Design of ADI TD-SCDMA Mobile Phone
Internal Structure of ADI TD-SCDMA 6901
Revenue and EBIT of Infineon, 2005Q2–2007Q1
Revenue and EBIT of Infineon Communications Division, 2005Q2–2007Q1
Interior Structure of MP-EH
Interior Structure of E-GOLD H3
Interior Structure of PMB7870
Interior Structure of BCM2124
Interior Structure of BCM2133
Framework of BCM2141 and BCM2133
Interior Structure of BCM2152
Interior Structure of BCM2153
Examples of Mobile Phones Adopting NXP Baseband, 2005
Systematic Figure of Nexperia System Solution 5210
Framework of NXP TD-SCDMA and High-end Mobile Phone Solution 7130
Framework of NXP7210
Framework of NXP6100
Interior Structure of PNX5221
Statistical Revenue and Gross Margin of MTK and Forecast, 2001-2007F
Monthly Revenue and Annual Growth Rate of MTK, Jan 2006-Mar 2007
Organizational Structure of MTK
Statistical Revenue Structure of MTK by Product and Forecast, 2005Q1-2007Q4
Statistics of Market Share and Shipment of MTK Mobile Phone Chipset in Mainland and Forecast, 2004-2009F
Application Structure of MT6218B
Interior Structure of MT6218B
Memory Management of MT6218B
Interior Structure of MT6219
Interior Structure of MT6627
Organizational Structure of T3G
Roadmap of T3G Products
Share-holding Structure of Commit
Structure Proportion of Working Period of Employees of Commit
Sketch Map of Commit Chipset
R&D Roadmap of Commit
Interior Structure of TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS Dual-module Baseband of Commit
Revenue Structure of TechFaith, 2005/2006
Quarterly Revenue from Design Fee of TechFaith both at China and Abroad, 2005-2006
Quarterly Revenue from Patent Licensing Fee of TechFaith both at China and Abroad, 2005-2006
Quarterly Product Revenue of TechFaith both at China and Abroad, 2005-2006
Business of TechFaith
Business Mode of TechFaith
Smart Phones of TechFaith
CDMA Product Roadmap of TechFaith
Smart Phone Roadmap of TechFaith
Revenue and Gross Margin of Long Cheer, 2003-2006
Shipment of Long Cheer Cell-phone Suite, 2003-2006
Revenue Structure of Sim Tech
Product list of Yuhua TelTech
Mobile Phone Production and Exports, 2000-2006
Baseband Application List of 33 types of Typical Bird Phones
Baseband Model List of 25 types of Typical Lenovo Phones
Baseband Application List of 27 types of TCL Phones
Baseband Model List of 60 types of Typical Amoi Phones
Baseband Application List of 25 types of Konka Phones
Baseband Application List of 23 types of Telsda Phones
Baseband Application List of 18 types of Gionee Phones
Mobile Phone Baseband Products of Qualcomm
Mobile Phone Platform Products of TI
Mobile Phone Platform Products of ADI
Mobile Phone Baseband Products of ADI
Profiles of Advanced Platforms of Infineon
Mobile Phone Products of Broadcom
MTT6228 Demonstrating Mobile Phone's Configuration
