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View Full Version : Huge growth seen for 3G phone shipments in '05



Ben
14th April 2005, 01:30 PM
http://eetuk.com/mr/news/showArticle.jhtml%3Bjsessionid=KNUHH2BQKMWH0QSNDBG CKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=160701129


LONDON — Sales of mobile phones reached 715 million units in 2004 and are projected to grow by just 4.5 per cent this year, according to a report on the market and the silicon that goes into mobiles from Forward Concepts.

The number of units shipped is higher than some recent market studies from groups such as Gartner or Strategy Analytics, the discrepancy being that the Forward Concepts study also includes shipments of inexpensive PHS/PAS (personal handyphones) units in China.

The reason for the relatively low market growth projection for 2005 is that Forward Concepts (Tempe, AZ.) believes the large market for older technologies will decline at a quicker pace than gains made by newer technologies.

According to the market research group, even shipments of phones for GSM are likely to see a drop of 23 per cent this year, while models for the TDMA networks will decline by 30 per cent.

However, mobile phones for more data intensive applications, for instance for EDGE platforms, are expected to increase by 51 percent this year, to 60 million units.

And 3G capable models will have an even greater uptake, albeit from a low base now. Those supporting W-CDMA networks are expected to grow by 165 percent, to reach 45 million units.

CDMA2000 1xEV-DO terminals (cards and handsets) will grow by 65 percent to 16 million units.

Although being rapidly displaced in Japan by newer technologies, cellphones based on 2G Personal HandyPhone service (PHS) are still projected to grow by 24 percent to 77 million units, as they gain ground in China, Taiwan, India and other developing countries.

According to the principal author of the report, Carter Horney: "Texas Instruments remains the number-one cellular chip provider, overall, and also the number-one provider of baseband chips for both 2G and 3G/UMTS cellular."

Horney notes that with its OMAP2 application processor, TI has quickly become number one in that market segment as well. However, he warns: "TI can't be complacent though, since Qualcomm still dominates the CDMA market and has a large number of design-ins for its UMTS baseband chips."

Freescale Semiconductor is also said to have enjoyed a good year in 2004 and is gaining ground in the cellular chip market.