New Qualcomm Chip Could Supercharge Sub-$100 Global 5G Phone Market

Qualcomm unveiled a new Snapdragon chip on Tuesday, designed to give entry-level mobile phones more muscle and 5G connectivity.

The Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 platform promises all-day battery life, improved camera capabilities, and 1 Gbps peak 5G speeds — seven times faster than LTE platforms in the same price tier.

Qualcomm stated the mobile platform will make 5G accessible to 2.8 billion smartphone users in select regions around the world, and added it will be initially adopted by key OEMs, including Xiaomi, with the first units being available before the end of the year.

“The Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 Mobile Platform is a significant leap forward in making 5G technology more accessible, so more people can navigate the world at 5G speeds,” Qualcomm Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Handsets Chris Patrick said in a statement.

“They are really opening up the $99 smartphone class with big improvements for a group that typically gets bottom-of-the-barrel performance,” declared Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore.

“Entry-level phones in this class appear to be getting the most substantial boost in years,” he told TechNewsWorld.

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The chip has benefits for consumers, carriers, and phone makers, Enderle continued. “Consumers get an increase in performance and battery life — around 1.5 hours of video streaming and 30 minutes more talk time over the prior generation — significant improvements in image quality — images and videos will look a lot better on big TV screens — and a significant improvement in game performance,” he said.

“Carriers get a stronger argument to get users to upgrade to 5G — better modem performance,” he added, “and phone makers get a stronger argument to get people to upgrade their phones to the newer technology.”

Phone makers can also benefit from the platform’s versatility and cost-effectiveness, added Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in Las Vegas. “It allows them to design a wide range of devices that cater to various market segments without compromising quality,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“Carriers also gain from the enhanced 5G capabilities, which facilitate more reliable and faster network performance, ultimately improving user experience and driving the adoption of next-generation mobile services,” he added.

Regional Appeal

Geography will play a significant role in the distribution of devices built on the chip, according to tech experts.

“The 4-series is Qualcomm’s entry-level cellular chipset. It is really aimed at economies and geographies where a lot of the installed base is still on LTE,” explained Ross Rubin, principal analyst with Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City.

“With this Snapdragon 4s Gen 2, the idea is to entice those who are using LTE to make the jump to 5G,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Some of that is going to depend upon what the carrier rates look like for 5G service versus 4G service in those geographies.”

“This could definitely be a chipset relevant for markets like China and India,” added John Strand of Strand Consult, a Danish telecom consulting firm.

“This is a chipset that is very interesting for phone manufacturers supplying the Indian and Chinese markets. That’s where you will see the highest volume of this chipset. That’s their target group,” he told TechNewsWorld.

Phil Solis, research director for connectivity and smartphone semiconductors at IDC, a global technology market research company, explained that the introduction of more entry-level 5G system-on-a-chip (SoC) chips will lead to more 5G smartphones at lower price points. “This will disproportionately affect regions with lower average smartphone selling prices, such as Eastern Europe, India, and Latin America,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“India is an important market because it is transitioning to 5G, because of the size of its population, and because of the increasing size of its middle class,” he said.

Spurring 5G Penetration

Solis noted that only 70% of smartphones shipped this year will support 5G. “This Qualcomm platform will help accelerate the growth of this percentage over the next few years,” he said.

According to IDC, global 5G penetration is expected to cross 67% by the end of 2024 and 81% by the end of 2028. Currently, 5G penetration in developed regions is 88% — 90% in China — while in developing regions, it’s 41%.

Vena predicted that the new Snapdragon platform’s impact should be profound. “It’s set to significantly accelerate 5G adoption by making advanced 5G connectivity more accessible to a broader range of consumers.”

“By integrating robust 5G capabilities into mid-tier and budget-friendly devices, Qualcomm enables a wider audience to experience the benefits of faster internet speeds, lower latency, and improved network reliability,” he continued.

“This democratization of 5G technology not only enhances user experiences across various applications, from streaming and gaming to telehealth and remote work, but also incentivizes carriers to expand their 5G infrastructure,” Vena said. “Consequently, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 serves as a catalyst for widespread 5G deployment, driving greater market penetration and fostering innovation across the mobile ecosystem.”

Protecting Revenue Share

Rubin pointed out that Qualcomm isn’t alone in producing 5G chips for the low-priced end of the market.

“There are other options for inexpensive 5G chips, primarily from MediaTek,” he said. Historically, they have been the dominant provider in the more price-sensitive end of the market. They’re not necessarily the absolute cheapest phones, but they’ve provided chips for a lot of the mainstream devices outside of the U.S.”

The real significance of this SoC is that it is part of Qualcomm’s strategy to better compete with MediaTek in phones with lower prices, added Solis. “MediaTek is starting to gain share in premium and flagship phones,” he explained. “Most of the revenue for smartphone SoCs is in higher-end SoCs.”

“India is a key country for SoC vendors to focus on,” he continued. “By focusing on India’s growing 5G SoC market, Qualcomm is trying to position itself in a market with a huge population and a growing middle class that will increasingly shift to purchasing higher-end phones.”

“Qualcomm is positioning itself for shipment share growth there now, which will translate into revenue share growth in the long term,” he said.

Solis noted that in 2023, MediaTek had 29% of mobile phone SoC shipments, while Qualcomm had 20%. On the revenue side, however, Qualcomm garnered 35%, compared to MediaTek’s 22%.

“MediaTek leads in global mobile phone SoC shipments, but Qualcomm leads in mobile phone SoC revenue,” he explained. “MediaTek is looking to grow its revenue share, and Qualcomm is looking to protect it.”

Competition considerations aside, for Qualcomm followers, the arrival of the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 is the end of a long wait. “This is a long time coming from Qualcomm,” said Anshel Sag, a senior analyst for mobility, 5G, and XR at Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology analyst and advisory firm based in Austin, Texas.

“They’ve long promised that 5G would eventually reach an affordable price point,” he continued. “It is great to see the 5G features trickling down from the high-end, and I believe that having this many affordable devices in the market over the next few years will juice operators’ motivation for deploying standalone 5G.”