The recent launch of HiSilicon's thousand-dollar smartphones has filled the industry, including those in mainland China and Taiwan, with fantasy. Can HiSilicon break MTK's monopoly in the Chinese mobile phone market? Rockchip recently launched the 65nm RK28 to enter the mobile phone market with high profile. What are the prospects of the three major mobile phone AP manufacturers, HiSilicon, Rockchip and MTK?
( H$ _0 u, Z% G2 W4 u6 z8 c3 S&J The AP processor cores of the three companies all use ARM926, but Rockchip RK28 uses a 65nm process and the CPU operating frequency can reach 600Mhz, while Huawei HiSilicon K3 and MTK6516 generally run at 312Mhz. Of course, these are the currently announced parameters. In the future, all three companies may launch processors based on ARM11 or even A8 cores. Different processes determine the choice of operating systems among the three companies. From what has been announced so far Judging from the news, Windows Mobile has become the first choice for MTK and HiSilicon to enter the smartphone market, while Rockchip uses Android as a breakthrough point. `8 W; y, L/ p Once with Microsoft. A friend was talking about the market strategy of Windows Mobile. Microsoft originally chose HiSilicon as its main partner in the Chinese mainland market because of concerns about piracy. In fact, many mainland semiconductor companies have approached Microsoft to develop Windows mobile phones. Out of concerns Considering piracy, Microsoft has not put much effort into it. After all, HiSilicon relies on Huawei. If piracy does occur, there will be more control methods in the future, because according to Microsoft's Windows Mobile license policy, processor providers do not need authorization. It is the terminal manufacturer that obtains authorization from Microsoft. However, once the terminal company commits piracy, Microsoft has the right to sue the processor company for compensation. Perhaps for this reason, MTK once proposed to Microsoft to buy out Microsoft's authorization in one go, which also provided MTK smartphones with a one-time buyout. Entering the copycat market paves the way for copyright. Unfortunately, Microsoft did not agree due to its own strategic considerations. Therefore, regardless of HiSilicon or MediaTek, with the launch of Windows Mobile phones, the piracy issues related to WIndows Mobile will definitely surface. After all, every mobile phone Not every manufacturer, especially copycat manufacturers, is willing to bear the cost of nearly 30 US dollars. From this perspective, it is obvious that MTK takes greater risks than HiSilicon.
$ C0 n& {/ h$ Q. Rockchip is very smart in choosing Android as a breakthrough point for smartphones. It effectively avoids the copyright problems of Windows Mobile and paves the way for future entry into the copycat market. However, compared to the technical maturity of Windows Mobile, although the G1 has so far Having been on sale for more than a year, the maturity of the Android operating system and the number of applications are obviously not comparable to Windows Mobile. However, given that Android has been adopted by most operators around the world, especially China Mobile and China Unicom, Android With vigorous promotion, I believe Android will surpass Windows Mobile and become the first choice for smartphones in the next few years, so both HiSilicon and MTK must be preparing for the Android platform.
6 {' n9 b0 x: x9 o G0 y. L MTK's AP has integrated baseband chips, but HiSilicon and Rockchip's AP have integrated multimedia processing units. In this regard, the three parties should be considered It’s a tie. After all, mainland consumers have more prominent demands for multimedia functions than overseas consumers. In addition, both HiSilicon and Rockchip choose NXP’s baseband because NXP’s baseband solution is relatively cheap. Therefore, the three companies’ smartphone solutions are The hardware BOM cost should not differ too much, but just because NXP's baseband is cheaper, the two companies also have hidden dangers, that is, whether NXP will one day give up the baseband business.
In terms of software, MTK and HiSilicon use the WIndows Mobile operating system, so development is relatively easy. HiSilicon once announced that K3 has passed Microsoft's LTK Logo test, but Lao Yao could not find specific information from Microsoft's website. It should be HiSilicon K3 passed the LTK self-test and was not sent to Microsoft for official testing. There is no further news on whether MTK passed the LTK test. Being able to pass this test also shows that mainland manufacturers have made breakthroughs in the processor field. As for Rockchip because it uses Android The operating system will be relatively difficult to develop. Since the AP processors currently supported by China Mobile are only Samsung and Marvell, in order to support the OMS operating system in the future, Rockchip will need further communication and cooperation with China Mobile. After all, in Mainland China has sold an Android operating system that supports the standard, and it is best to support OMS.
, A9 _3 Z6 w0 \6 U" g* p3 x From the perspective of future development, since MediaTek has a layout in WCDMA and TD-SCDMA, the potential advantages are even greater. After years of investment, Rockchip, as an independent AP supplier, may have greater difficulties in providing Turnkey solutions, but choosing properly is not necessarily a disadvantage.
' C/ U% T ` ) E9 J2 i& P% E Regardless of whether MTK, HiSilicon or Rockchip launch smartphones in the future, they will adopt the Turnkey method to cater to the needs of the local copycat market. The launch of HiSilicon K3 smartphone has sounded the clarion call for Chinese smartphone competition. Given that both MTK and Rockchip smartphones were launched in the fourth quarter of this year, the real competition should begin in 2010. It is hoped that the competition between the three companies will further enhance the Chinese position in the global integrated circuit market and attract more consumers. Enjoy the benefits of your smartphone a day earlier.