For the rest of the year, more Android flagships with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Dimensity 9300 will be found in a plethora of premium smartphones, but according to one tipster, companies are shifting towards a different strategy, which is equipping its less expensive handsets with the same SoCs. While this will hurt the manufacturer’s margins, it shows how eager these companies are to increase their global market share, even if the outcome negligibly rewards them.
Mid-rangers with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Dimensity 9300 chipsets rumored to arrive in H2 2024
On Weibo, tipster Digital Chat Station has put out a post implying that the chipset wars between Qualcomm and MediaTek are heating up. Previously, only smartphone makers would use top-end SoCs in their most revered products, but now, such companies are slowly realizing the popularity that mid-rangers exude when outfitted with chipsets such as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Dimensity 9300. Unfortunately, the tipster did not specifically mention which companies will roll out devices featuring the aforementioned silicon.
Going by the earlier launches, Xiaomi is likely one of them, with the Chinese firm well-known for pushing out handsets that matched the competition’s premium offerings in hardware specifications while flaunting a significantly lower price. Digital Chat Station states that a wave of unnamed mid-range models will arrive in June and July, spiking competition while giving consumers many options. Since the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Dimensity 9300 are mass produced on TSMC’s N4P process, they are expensive to make, forcing phone makers to raise the prices of their devices to offset the dwindling margins.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is already rumored to be more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, with the latter estimated to cost $160 per unit. However, an uptick in mid-range smartphone shipments may force Qualcomm to revise its pricing, putting additional pressure on MediaTek to push forward with the same tactic. Analysts had previously praised the Dimensity 9300, calling it the most powerful smartphone chipset at this time, and believe that the Taiwanese fabless semiconductor firm has the opportunity to increase its global market share by up to 35 percent this year.
The rivalry between Qualcomm and MediaTek is expected to intensify in the fourth quarter, as both companies are said to introduce their first 3nm SoCs, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and the Dimensity 9400. If future mid-range models gain immense popularity later in the year, we see no reason why manufacturers will not repeat this business formula in 2025.
News Source: Digital Chat Station
