Could there be trouble here for the largest mobile processor company? For a while, Qualcomm has been number one. They make great processors that all of the major OEMs use in their products. Heck they are even in our watches now. But they’ve been getting increasing amounts of competition from MediaTek, and NVIDIA. Although mostly MediaTek. MediaTek has been taking over in the low-end, mid-range and Chinese markets. Many of the smartphones from Chinese manufacturers like Meizu, Xiaomi, Gionee and others are using MediaTek. Even though Xiaomi’s new Note phones are using the Snapdragon 810. It’s still been a struggle for Qualcomm over there.
Now, Qualcomm has lowered their outlook for this year, and warns that their quarterly numbers may not be as high as they expected. Not only due to their troubled business in China, but also due to a large company dropping out of buying the Snapdragon 810. Now we’ve heard rumors that Samsung had heat issues with the Snapdragon 810 – which LG promptly denied, since they have it in their LG G Flex 2. Qualcomm would not comment on who dropped out, but it sounds like it’s Samsung. But we had also heard that HTC might be leaning towards MediaTek for their new flagships. We’ll have to wait and see on that.
This news came as the company announced their earnings for the fourth quarter. Which they earned $1.17 per share in earnings, and $7.1 billion in revenue. For the current quarter, the company is expecting over revenue to be between $6.5 and $7.1 billion, with per share earnings, excluding charges, of approximately $1.28 to $1.40. Analysts had been expecting a forecast of about $6.74 billion in revenue, and $1.28 per share earnings. So they weren’t that far off.
So this makes us wonder, who’s the large customer that dropped out? It definitely sounds like it’s Samsung. Seeing as LG is already using the Snapdragon 810 in the LG G Flex 2, it’s hard to believe that it’s LG. And HTC hasn’t been doing that well lately, so we wonder if Qualcomm considers them a “big customer” these days. What do all of you think? Let us know in the comments below.