Nvidia seen leading in tablets, Qualcomm in phones

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Revenue for mobile applications processors grew at a whopping 77 percent for tablets and 58 percent for smartphones in the third quarter of 2012, according to reports from Strategy Analytics.

Nvidia held its lead in non-iPad tablets, taking a third of the sector and 17 percent of the overall tablet processor market. Apple still dominates with its A-series chips in 53 percent of all tablets, given the iPad’s success.

Overall $900 million in integrated tablet processors sold in the quarter, up 77 percent from the same quarter in 2011, said the market watcher in its tablet report that tracks chips from 13 vendors.

Only one percent of the tablet chips included basebands, limiting design wins for integrated parts from Broadcom, Mediatek and Qualcomm, the market watcher said. Design wins in the Google Nexus 10 and Microsoft Surface propelled Nvidia ahead of rivals Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and Samsung.

“Nvidia is well-positioned to maintain its share in non-iPad tablets in the next few quarters,” said Sravan Kundojjala, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.