Masatsune Yamaji, principal research analyst at Gartner, said: “While both companies continue to exert considerable influence on technology and price trends for the wider semiconductor industry, their impact has lessened due to falling expectations for future growth.”
Although Samsung has seen competition from Chinese OEMs in various markets, including smartphones, LCD TVs and LCD panels, it increased its share of consumption to 9.3%. Apple, meanwhile, saw its share drop for the first time since 2007 to 8.8%. Amongst the reasons put forward by Gartner were poor iPad sales and a lower share of the PC market.
Of the companies in the 2015 top 10, nine remained in 2016, with Cisco Systems replaced by Chinese OEM BBK Electronics. Gartner says three Chinese companies are listed in the top 10 and says this highlights the importance of the Chinese electronics market. According to Gartner, the top 10 consumers bought chips worth $339.7bn; 1.5% more than in 2015.
Yamaji noted: “Semiconductor vendors can no longer secure their businesses by relying on a few strong customers because market share changes much faster these days. BBK Electronics grew very fast in 2016, but this extraordinarily fast growth also underlines how volatile the businesses in China can be. Technology product marketing leaders at semiconductor chip vendors need to take the risks of their major customers into account and always try to diversify their customer base.”