已經(jīng)與中國手機(jī)市場建立緊密連結(jié)的臺灣芯片設(shè)計業(yè)者聯(lián)發(fā)科(Mediatek)總經(jīng)理謝清江(Ching-Jiang Hsieh)認(rèn)為，中國將會是下一波智能手機(jī)浪潮的動力來源。 “我們預(yù)計今年手機(jī)芯片出貨量可達(dá)5,000萬顆，大幅超越去年的1,000萬顆；”謝清江在2月底的行動通訊世界大會(MWC)上接受美國EETimes編輯訪問時表示：“今年功能型手機(jī)出貨將首度呈現(xiàn)衰退──該類手機(jī)去年出貨表現(xiàn)是持平──主因是智能手機(jī)出貨持續(xù)成長?！?

聯(lián)發(fā)科(Mediatek)總經(jīng)理謝清江(Ching-Jiang Hsieh)

謝清江的看法與多數(shù)市場分析師一致。根據(jù)Linley Group負(fù)責(zé)人Linley Gwennap預(yù)測，到 2014年，全球智能手機(jī)出貨量將達(dá)6億支，屆時將有70%的整合型應(yīng)用處理器/基頻芯片是供給這類手機(jī)使用，該比例在2010年僅40%。 此外，Strategy Analytics分析師指出，中國已經(jīng)在 2011年第三季超越美國躍升全球最大智能手機(jī)市場，主因是中國電信業(yè)者推出多款價格低于160美元的平價智能手機(jī)，激勵中國智能手機(jī)市場快速成長。 聯(lián)發(fā)科是否能引領(lǐng)這波中國智能手機(jī)浪潮，還有待觀察；而這家臺灣芯片設(shè)計業(yè)者正面臨一家快速崛起、同樣瞄準(zhǔn)該市場的競爭對手──中國本土無晶圓廠芯片設(shè)計業(yè)者展訊通信(Spreadtrum Communications)。 與聯(lián)發(fā)科同調(diào)，展訊最近也鎖定價位在100~160美元的平價智能手機(jī)市場，推出GHz等級的ARM Cortex A9核心應(yīng)用處理器。國際智能手機(jī)芯片大廠高通(Qualcomm)也逐漸將焦點(diǎn)集中在整合型手機(jī)芯片產(chǎn)品。 謝清江表示，聯(lián)發(fā)科的部分優(yōu)勢所在，是與重量級中國手機(jī)制造商建立的緊密關(guān)系以及對這些伙伴的了解；他指出，目前中國四家頂尖手機(jī)制造商──華為 (Huawei)、聯(lián)想(Lenovo)、TCL與中興(ZTE)──貢獻(xiàn)聯(lián)發(fā)科手機(jī)芯片業(yè)務(wù)的四成，其余六成則來自100家左右的小客戶。 這四家手機(jī)大廠不只在中國本土市場頗具份量，其出貨至海外的產(chǎn)品也逐漸增加；而聯(lián)發(fā)科協(xié)助這些伙伴快速填補(bǔ)中低階產(chǎn)品線的空缺。 華為旗下的芯片設(shè)計公司海思(HiSilicon)已經(jīng)開發(fā)自家應(yīng)用處理器好一段時間；該總部位于上海的設(shè)計團(tuán)隊也在 2012年MWC 發(fā)表一款4核心芯片，號稱其繪圖處理性能可與Nvidia的Tegra 3分庭抗禮。 不過謝清江指出，市場雖然因為智能手機(jī)的各種熱門多媒體應(yīng)用程序，而特別關(guān)注于強(qiáng)調(diào)繪圖處理性能的產(chǎn)品，但預(yù)期在接下來幾年，當(dāng)智能手機(jī)市場以45%的成長率速度擴(kuò)張之同時，該類整合繪圖處理功能的芯片市場成長率可能不到2%。 本文下一頁：勢力龐大的中國二、三線手機(jī)廠商 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載

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{pagination} 聯(lián)發(fā)科手機(jī)芯片業(yè)務(wù)的六成，是來自許多知名不高的中小型中國手機(jī)廠商；謝清江將其中部分在中國本地具品牌知名度、但沒有出貨至海外的廠商定義為二線，包括深圳業(yè)者金立通訊(Gionee Communication Equipment)、OPPO Electronics、BBK等。 至于三線手機(jī)廠商，指的是無自有品牌的業(yè)者；這些廠商主要是扮演ODM角色，為主要來自中國與印度的零售業(yè)者生產(chǎn)貼牌手機(jī)。 這些ODM手機(jī)廠較大成分是制造者，而非設(shè)計者，其中有數(shù)家位于上海的廠商，是委托包括聯(lián)發(fā)科在內(nèi)的外部研發(fā)團(tuán)隊協(xié)助其工程方面的任務(wù)，例如芯訊通(Sim Com Wireless Solutions；為晨訊科技旗下子公司)。 針對這些二、三線伙伴，聯(lián)發(fā)科可提供完整的參考設(shè)計解決方案協(xié)助他們加速產(chǎn)品上市時程；據(jù)了解，這類手機(jī)廠商通常自己負(fù)責(zé)產(chǎn)品的顯示器、內(nèi)存容量等方面的設(shè)計，其余與Android平臺客制化設(shè)計相關(guān)的細(xì)部工作就交由聯(lián)發(fā)科工程師負(fù)責(zé)。 聯(lián)發(fā)科表示，該公司擁有上百名Android軟件工程師，可協(xié)助客戶進(jìn)行客制化設(shè)計；由于PC大廠正嘗試由“預(yù)鑄”式的微軟(Microsoft) Windows平臺，跨足Android原始世界，這類人才在臺灣也受到高度重視。 競爭對手展訊近來以產(chǎn)品降價策略搶市，聯(lián)發(fā)科則以本身的技術(shù)優(yōu)勢自詡；該公司最新推出的MT6515芯片除了支持中國TD-SCDMA標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，且基于聯(lián)發(fā)科在智能型電視芯片方面的技術(shù)，可支持包括3D自動立體顯示(auto-stereoscopic) 等高階功能。 藉由在2007年收購ADI的基頻芯片部門，聯(lián)發(fā)科投入整合式手機(jī)芯片開發(fā)的時間將對較早；展訊則是在去年藉由投資MobilePeak取得基頻技術(shù)。謝清江表示，聯(lián)發(fā)科最新一代芯片采用40納米制程，預(yù)計明年將推出28納米制程設(shè)計。 看來掀起這一波中國智能手機(jī)市場浪潮的主力，將會來自于數(shù)量龐大的二、三線廠商，并非頂尖手機(jī)大廠；其未來發(fā)展值得密切關(guān)注。

聯(lián)發(fā)科最新的手機(jī)方案支持3D游戲，市場售價低于160美金ggzesmc

編譯：Judith Cheng 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文：China unknowns may be next smartphone stars，by Rick Merritt

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{pagination} China unknowns may be next smartphone stars Rick Merritt Mediatek president Ching-Jiang Hsieh has been forging tight links with China’s handset makers, believing they will be the source of the next big wave of smartphones. BARCELONA – Ching-Jiang Hsieh has been forging tight links with China’s handset makers. The president of Mediatek believes they will be the source of the next big wave of smartphones. “We will sell 50 million handset chip sets this year, up from 10 million last year,” said Hsieh in an interview with EE Times at the Mobile World Congress in late February. “This year feature phones will decline for the first time—they were almost flat last year—because smartphones are growing,” he said. Market watchers agree. As many as 600 million smartphones will ship in 2014, and as many as half of them will be low cost models replacing feature phones, according to Linley Gwennap, principal of the Linley Group (Mountain View, Calif.). Chips that integrate apps processors and basebands will power 70 percent of those handsets, up from 40 percent in 2010, Gwennap predicts. Likewise, Strategy Analytics said China overtook the US as the world’s biggest smartphone market in the third quarter of 2011. The shift was largely thanks to China’s cellular carriers who bought lots of models that cost less than US$160, making it the fastest growing segment. Whether Mediatek can lead this new wave is an open question. The Taiwan company is battling with one of China’s fastest rising fabless companies, Spreadtrum Communications Inc., that also has its eyes on this market. Like Mediatek, Spreadtrum recently released GHz-class ARM Cortex A9 applications processors to serve the market for smartphones that hit a $100-$160 price point. Smartphone chip giant Qualcomm also is focusing increasingly on integrated chips. Hsieh said part of Mediatek’s edge is its relationships with and understanding of the China handset makers who he thinks will drive the shift. Four of China’s top handset makers--Huawei, Lenovo, TCL and ZTE—make up 40 percent of Mediatek’s handset business, and a diverse set of 100 other companies make up the rest, he said. The big four are not only well known in China but have growing export businesses. Mediatek helps these OEMs quickly fill out the middle and low-end tiers of product lines. Huawei’s HiSilicon group has been making its own applications processors for some time. The Shanghai based team announced a quad-core chip at Mobile World Congress with souped up graphics it claimed beat Nvidia’s Tegra 3. A lot of attention gets paid to such image products by the gadget-crazed media. But that segment of the market will grow at a rate a little less than two percent over the next few years while the overall smartphone pie expands by as much as 45 percent, Hsieh said. China's second and third tiers The China handset OEMs who make up 60 percent of Mediatek’s business are not household names. Some are what Hsieh refers to as second tier companies who have a respected brand in China, but no real export business. They include three Shenzhen companies Gionee Communication Equipment Ltd., OPPO Electronics Corp. Ltd, and BBK. Then there is a wider group of third tier players. These companies have no brands of their own. They make handsets on an ODM basis for retailers mainly in India and China who slap their own names on the phones. Many of these ODMs are more manufacturers than designers. Several reside in Shanghai where there are plenty of external R&D teams from chip makers like Mediatek and others to help with the engineering work. They include companies such Sim Com Wireless Solutions Co. Ltd. With all these companies, Mediatek has adopted an approach of providing full reference designs to speed them to market. The handset maker typically specifies the industrial design, perhaps the display and the amount of memory. Mediatek’s engineers handle the rest, including a lot of the work customizing Google Android for the particulars of the design. Mediatek claims it has hundreds of Android software engineers who can help wrestle the open source code into the needs of a particular design. Such expertise is highly valued in Taiwan these days where the big computer ODMs there are trying to make the shift from Microsoft’s pre-baked Windows to the wild and wooly world of Android. The Taiwan chip maker claims it has a tech edge over Spreadtrum, its Shanghai based competitor that is reportedly undercutting it in prices. Mediatek’s latest offering, the MT6515, supports the China TD-SCDMA standard and can handle high-end features such as auto-stereoscopic 3-D, thanks to technology borrowed from Mediatek smart TV chips. Mediatek was relatively early getting into the integrated handset chips, acquiring the baseband group of Analog Devices Inc. in 2007. Spreadtrum acquired baseband technology just last year with its investment in MobilePeak. In addition, Hsieh notes his latest chips are in 40 nm process technology and he will push into the 28 nm node with designs coming next year. It remains to be seen whether China and Mediatek ride the next big wave in smartphones, a wave coming from the bottom rather than the top. But this is clearly the phone zone to watch.