MediaTek’s February revenue hit a new low in nearly a year, 5G flagship chip “anticlimactic”

On March 10, Taiwanese mobile phone chip manufacturer MediaTek announced its February performance report: revenue was NT$18.221 billion (about 4.24 billion yuan), a decrease of 8.06% from the previous month, hitting a new low in the past year, but a year-on-year increase of 28.67%.

Taiwan media “Central News Agency” analyzed on the 10th that in addition to the off-season effect, the uncertain demand caused by the new crown pneumonia epidemic is the reason for the further decline of MediaTek’s performance in February. The company’s January revenue was NT$19.818 billion, a decrease of 10.28% from the previous month.

Observer.com noticed that MediaTek’s first high-end 5G SoC chip “Dianji 1000” has been released for more than three months, and so far it has almost failed in the high-end mobile phone market. At present, Huawei Kirin 990, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, etc. have become standard for high-end 5G mobile phones.

Screenshot of MediaTek’s official website

As early as November 26 last year, MediaTek released its first 5G SoC chip “Dimensity 1000” before Qualcomm, using a 7nm process, and the price was rumored to be as high as $70, making it the company’s highest-priced chip ever.

At MediaTek’s press conference on the same day, executives from OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei and other manufacturers expressed their optimism about the “Dimensity 1000” through video. In particular, OPPO Vice President Yin Wenguang also mentioned that OPPO participated in the Dimensity 1000. customization.

However, after reviewing by Observer.com, we found that it has been more than three months since the release of “Tianji 1000”. Except for OPPO’s use of it for the standard model of the mid-range OPPO Reno3 series, there is no second mainstream mobile phone manufacturer. use.

It is quite embarrassing that the high-end version of the OPPO Reno3 Pro released on December 26 last year is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G processor for the mid-range market, while the relatively low-profile OPPO Reno3 is equipped with a high-end market. “Tianji 1000L”.

What’s more interesting is that in February this year, the OPPO Reno3 series launched a relatively lower price version of the vitality, which is still equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 processor.

Observer.com found that in addition to Huawei’s high-end 5G mobile phones using the Kirin 990 processor, Samsung Galaxy S20 5G, Xiaomi Mi 10 series, iQOO 3, Realme X50 Pro, Black Shark Game 3, OPPO Find X2, etc. are all equipped with Snapdragon 865 processing. device.

In addition, the next released vivo NEX 3S series, Redmi K30 Pro series, and Meizu 17 series have basically been confirmed to be equipped with the Snapdragon 865 processor. This means that the “Tianji 1000” may still gain nothing in the high-end flagship market.

OPPO Reno3 configuration information

In fact, the gap between Qualcomm and MediaTek in the smartphone market may be seen in the pricing strategies of the two manufacturers.

Taiwanese media “Economic Daily” reported in November last year that the industry’s original estimate of the price of MediaTek’s 5G mid-to-high-end chips was about $50. However, its price of more than $70 was nearly 40% higher than market expectations; while the general 4G chip price was even higher. It is only 10 to 12 dollars, and the Dimensity 1000 is 6 times higher.

However, a report released by Tianfeng International in January showed that Qualcomm has significantly reduced the price of mid-range 5G chips to $40 due to lower-than-expected demand for replacement of high-end 5G mobile phones. This will have a major impact on MediaTek, which may lose orders for 20-25 million 5G mobile phone chips.

In addition to pricing reasons, some media analysts said that because Taiwan’s IT industry started out as a foundry, it is good at major customer business and not good at consumer business. As a result, MediaTek’s influence among consumers is very weak, and it has always been low-end. Synonymous, mobile phone manufacturers will have some scruples when choosing.

“Central News Agency” reported on the 10th that MediaTek’s 5G chip shipments may be affected by the epidemic, not only the shipment time may be delayed to the second quarter, but the annual shipments will also be lower than expected. However, MediaTek is still optimistic about the overall performance this year. New products such as 5G and automotive products are expected to account for 15% of total revenue, which is higher than the estimated 10%.