NEW DELHI: Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek is optimistic about offering a true fifth generation or 5G experience to end users and said it would continue to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) bring low-cost mobile devices to market.
“We always try to have a complete portfolio of products for 5G. We have the entry-level chipset and all the way up to the flagship. So we are known for an affordable portfolio of chipsets. The strategy has worked very well for us and we have been able to democratize the use of 5G in India,” Anku Jaingeneral manager, MediaTek India said ETTelecom.
Jain also said that the “concept of low-cost 5G chipsets and smartphones” will remain the company's mainstay.
According to recent findings by Counterpoint, a Hsinchu-based company held a lion's share of 54% of India's smartphone chipset market in Q2 2024.
The executive further said that the company has equipped the Rs 8,799 ($104) homegrown Lava 5G Blaze smartphone with MediaTek Dimensity 700, an 8-core chipset.
“There were smartphones priced above Rs 20,000 a year ago. We are the ones who are bringing it below Rs 10,000 and now there are devices below Rs 9,000. Within the next year, the prices will come closer to Rs 7,000,” Sunil Raina, managing director, Lava International said.
Raina further said that the mobile phone market is very interesting as India has a demographic dividend of a young population, which ultimately results in faster adoption of new technologies.
The Taiwanese company is strategically partnering with Lava on entry-level 5G pricing and said it could further support the ambitions of other original equipment makers (OEMs) to produce low-cost smartphones.
Some of the cost-effective smartphones from the Taiwanese fabless company include the Itel P55, Poco M6, Lava Blaze 2, Realme C63 5G and iQOO 79 Lite.
However, IDC's recent research shows that the average selling price (ASP) of 5G smartphones fell 22% year-on-year to $293 (Rs 24,000).
Within the 5G segment, shipments of the mass budget segment ($100-200) increased by a factor of 2.5 to a share of 45%, the US research firm said.
Earlier this month, the company's arch-rival announced Qualcomm Xiaomi Inc. said it would ship a $99 Gigabit 5G smartphone with Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 system-on-chip (SoC). Meanwhile, China’s Xiaomi claimed to have plans for an affordable smartphone based on a standalone 2 antenna (SA-2Rx) later this year.
“We are fully compliant with the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards,” Jain added.
The mobile broadband standards require 4 Rx antennas (receive antennas) for 5G frequency bands including 3.5 GHz (TDD), n7 2.6 GHz (FDD), n38 2.6 GHz (TDD) and n41 2.5 GHz (TDD).
According to an analysis by IDC, 27 million 5G smartphones were shipped in the second quarter of 2024, meaning that market share increased to 77% from 49% a year ago.
