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Mediatek sees its shipments dropping during the first quarter of 2017

Nick PapanikolopoulosApril 7, 2017

Things don’t look that good for Mediatek and we’ve covered this matter extensively during the past few months. The Taiwanese is in for a rough 2017 if we are to make impressions from the shipment numbers during the first quarter of the year.

According to media sources from the country, the company has managed to get only 100 million of shipments during the first 3 months, with some rumors saying that the number could increase to 110-120 million during the second quarter of the year. These numbers seem low – even for the Taiwanese standards- especially if you take into account that Mediatek sold 480 million chipsets last year.

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So who’s to blame for these low figures? According to the same sources, Qualcomm. It looks like most Chinese manufacturers like Meizu, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have shifted a portion of their orders from MediaTek to its main competitor and its Snapdragon chipsets. Mediatek has another problem to solve however, and it’s called Helio X30.

We’re talking about their latest flagship chipset, which has yet to be adopted by any big manufacturers thanks to its slow production line and average performance. If these numbers continue to haunt Mediatek then the company is set to lose a large portion of its market share in China and fall perhaps below 40%!

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About the author

Nick Papanikolopoulos
With some little over 20 years of experience in the Mobile Technology sector Nick is the EIC of Gizchina.com. He has a Masters’ degree in Wireless & Wired Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering and Computer Informatics and a PhD in Mobility QoS Measuring Techniques.
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And it will drop more once Meizu releases its own processors.
AbdulB1
April 7, 2017
Providing no open source drivers u deserve it mediatek
Zutanito
April 8, 2017
And it will drop more once Meizu releases its own processors.
AbdulB1
April 8, 2017
Providing no open source drivers u deserve it mediatek

Simion-Florin
April 8, 2017
Because u dont have new processors, nothing new released on 14nm or 10nm, same old crap ineficient and with bad camera processing isp.
Nolan
April 8, 2017
No GPS support in any chip, or very poor support.
(EPO files needed, which are very hard to obtain due to servers going down).
Even with EPO files and MobileUncle MTK Tools, acquiring a gps fix takes 1 hour or more, even under ideal conditions (outdoor, good weather).
It’s actually quite amazing how they managed to sell whatever they have so far without GPS support, which is a really basic feature these days.
Next, pathetic GPUs, which means no gaming.
(I’m not talking about Angry Birds and Tetris, I’m talking about N.O.V.A, Asphalt etc.)
Finally, weak processing. 2 apps or more means a stuttery, sluggish experience.
This had to happen to them eventually.
The only way they can now survive is to get phone makers to sell 6797T based phones around the 70 USD mark, with lots of RAM (4GB+), UFS3 storage, 2K displays etc.
For example, a phone maker could use that garbage 6797T in a phone with:
– 2K screen 5.7″ Gorilla Glass 4
– 6 GB Ram
– USB Type C 3.0 backed
– 64 GB UFS3.0 Rom
– Android 7.1.1
– A hi-fi DAC for superb audio
– A 20 MP cam (primary) and a 16 MP cam secondary with OIS
– A 4800 MaH battery with quick charge and wireless charing
and price it at 69.99 USD.
Then MTK can survive maybe.
- Aristotelis Tz
  April 8, 2017
  I must disagree. I had a variety of processors both QUALCOMM and mediatek. No difference at all. Good gps support, smooth game support etc. Yes mediatek has not as good gpus as QUALCOMM but they are ok. For example I had xelio x20, and snap 810 (same antutu score but there was a big difference in 3d) but overall the experience was the same. Other example : I went from mtk 6753 to snap 820 and they seem the same. Maybe there are games that make a difference but think and consider the price difference. I say support mediatek because we will have a situation similar to intel amd….
  - nobitakun
    April 8, 2017
    You can’t even dare to say that between SD820 and MT6753 there is no difference as for performance, not at all :(. I could accept that comparison with an helio x20 but even with that you would notice a huge gap between them in some games.
    I prefer Mediatek over Qualcomm because they are way cheaper, but there’s always a reason, as you see. I’m not nearly as demanding as what a SD820 can offer, so that’s why I stick with MTK 🙂
    - Aristotelis Tz
      April 8, 2017
      my opinion: in everyday usual activity there is no difference. real example: wake up running , gps immediately lock sattelites, hear music, web surfing, facebook, youtube, random 2d game, of course make some phone calls, watch a movie…. there is no difference. Maybe there is a delay 1 sec in a web site but you cant tell except you have 2 phones to compare. I must say that if a mediatek 6753 phone is well made (nice antennas, descent camera, 2-3 gb rom, nice software, not a strange ui etc ) then it can be compared with a snap 820. But usually when companies use 6753 they usually lower the overall quality. And don’t forget the 6753 was one of the best cpus of mediate
      - Nolan
        April 8, 2017
        MediaTek GPS lock takes 1 to 2 hours AFTER MobileUncle MTK tools fix with EPO files, updated monthly (which are not available anymore!!!).
        So you’re lying. No MediaTek phone locks GPS immediately. On the newest phones (2016-17 SoCs), locks take 20 minutes or more under ideal conditions, where Exynos / QC chips lock in seconds.
        
        balcobomber25
        April 8, 2017
        Every MTK phone I have used in the last 2 years had locked on in the same amount of time as Qualcomm phones.
        So you’re lying. Which isn’t a surprise because you have never liked Mediatek because they don’t score well in Antutu.
        
        Nolan
        April 8, 2017
        MediaTek phones don’t even HAVE gps functionality you stupid troll, they advertise it but it doesn’t exist on the older chips.
        On the newer chips it maybe exists but needs EPO files via download from their servers (which are always unavailable).
        After EPO files, it takes 1-2 hours.
        So stop lying please.
        Aristotelis Tz
        April 8, 2017
        About GPS: meizu mx4, dogee f5, jiayu s3, leeco le 2 pro, elephone s7, infocus m560 xiaomi Redmi note 2 NEVER had GPS issues. But before them jiayu g3 and iocean x7 elite YES i had. All these mdk phones are ok as all Qualcomm i had.
        
        Nolan
        April 8, 2017
        Hard to believe. The app Mobile Uncle MTK tools exists for a reason. It is used to enter engineering mode on MTK devices and download EPO files every week I think, (if you’re lucky and the servers are up).
        Don’t believe me? see here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2697236
        justyfier
        April 17, 2017
        again you’re stuck in 2013. it’s obsolete now.
        balcobomber25
        April 8, 2017
        Once again they had problems on their older phones, they don’t anymore. Stop lying about things you know nothing about. I use dozens of phones a year, current gen MTK devices have GPS comparable to any other brand.
        
        Nolan
        April 8, 2017
        Someone tell this idiot about MobileUncle MTK tools and its engineering mode.
        I remember there was even an article on GizChina on how to get faster lock times on MTK devices by using that tool to download EPO files.
        MattD
        April 8, 2017
        Yeah, there was such an article. It’s 4 years old.
        So… welcome to 2013 buddy! ?
        Nolan
        April 8, 2017