The global cellular baseband processor market declined 5% on year to US$21.1 billion in 2015, according to Strategy Analytics. Shipments of LTE baseband chips exceeded one billion units in 2015 representing a strong double-digit increase, while shipments of 2G and 3G baseband ICs declined significantly.

Qualcomm maintained its baseband market share leadership in 2015, but its market share fell to 59% from 66% in 2014, Strategy Analytics said. MediaTek and Spreadtrum ranked number two and three with 20% and 6% revenue shares, respectively, in 2015.

"Qualcomm, the baseband market leader, faced significant challenges in 2015, especially in the high-end as the company had less success with its Snapdragon 800 series of chips in 2015 compared to 2014," said Sravan Kundojjala, associate director at Strategy Analytics. "However, Qualcomm's mid-range chips and slim modems performed well and featured in several high volume devices in 2015 which helped Qualcomm to maintain volume."

In the LTE baseband processor segment, Qualcomm's share of unit shipments fell to 63% in 2015 as competitors MediaTek, Samsung LSI, HiSilicon, Spreadtrum and Leadcore all improved their LTE shipments, Strategy Analytics indicated.

MediaTek saw its shipments of LTE baseband chips surge over 400% in 2015 compared to 2014, helped by the company's strong presence in China and its strong 64-bit mid-range product portfolio, noted Stuart Robinson, executive director of Strategy Analytics' handset component technologies service.

"MediaTek, however, faced challenges from Spreadtrum in its more profitable 3G baseband business," Robinson continued. "Strategy Analytics predicts continued momentum for MediaTek in LTE basebands, but these growing shipments are likely to cut into MediaTek's margins in 2016, thanks to high costs and price competition."

Samsung LSI, HiSilicon, Spreadtrum and Leadcore all made good progress in the LTE baseband market segment in 2015. "HiSilicon and Samsung LSI benefited from their traction at their respective in-house customers in 2015 at the expense of merchant baseband companies such as Qualcomm, while Leadcore benefited from its design-win at Xiaomi," said Christopher Taylor, director of Strategy Analytics' RF & wireless components service.