From Mate 30 Pro 5G to Mate 60 Pro: a technology path from China
The current semiconductor market for mobile applications stands at $161 billion (2023), accounting for 31% of the total semiconductor devices industry. This encompasses various components like processors, memory, sensors, and power electronics falling under the More Moore and More than Moore categories. Building upon the strength of its semiconductor supply chain. Apple is gradually increasing its handset market share by about 1% annually from 2022 to 2023, while Samsung maintained a market share slightly above 20%. The ban on Huawei has led to a redistribution among Chinese brands.
This prompts questions about China’s position in the global semiconductor industry in the post-technology-ban context and how Huawei has managed its supply chain and technology choices for its newest handsets.
Moreover, Yole Group offers Consumer Teardown Tracks, Phone Module, accessible through a dedicated web platform. Yole Group analysts recently conducted a detailed teardown of the highly anticipated Huawei Mate 60 Pro.
Discover today the full picture of Huawei’s semiconductor supply chain transformation under the US ban, an overview written by Pierre Cambou, Principal Analyst, Global Semiconductors at Yole Group.
Is Huawei’s telecom empire in danger? A historical perspective…
Is Huawei, the $90 billion (2022) China-based telecom behemoth, endangered by the demise of its mobile handset business? Maybe not; as the Mate 60 Pro released in the summer of 2023 shows, its new China-based supply chain is changing the game.
A quick look at history from 2015 to 2019 shows Huawei was able to grow from 3% to 15% of the ~$480 billion (2023) mobile handset market with a successful product strategy on par with Apple.
In May 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce placed Huawei on its entity list, barring it from sourcing advanced chip technology. Huawei had one year to sufficiently stockpile before a complete semiconductor ban was implemented.
Pierre Cambou
Principal Analyst, Global Semiconductors at Yole Group
At that time, Huawei’s front runner was a premium phone called the Mate 30 Pro. It had one more go with the Mate 40 Pro before its market share collapsed to a mere 1% of the global mobile market as the successor, the Mate 50 Pro, was not 5G capable and was produced in anecdotal quantities.
This near-death experience of Huawei’s mobile phone business ended in the summer of 2023 when Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro, finally with 5G capability and all critical components sourced from domestic companies in mainland China.
With an estimated 43 million units shipped in 2023 – Mate 60 Pro included – Huawei gained 4% of the 1,150 million smartphone market in a single quarter. Its strong presence at the recent MWC2024 event in Barcelona with an entire portfolio of convincing smartphones – such as foldables – exemplifies the magnitude of this comeback.
More importantly for the competition, Huawei is now headed for a significant share of the premium smartphone segment where the main contenders – Apple and Samsung – make most of their smartphone revenues.
Drawing on its semiconductor expertise, Yole Group is delving deeper into the analysis and examination of Huawei’s phones. What implications will this have on semiconductor content production? Could Huawei’s narrative reshape the mobile industry? Let’s embark on an exploration.
Tracking Semiconductor Evolution: From Mate 30 Pro to Mate 60 Pro
In the four generations of Huawei’s smartphones under analysis, what is striking is the temporary increase in U.S. device content versus devices sourced from China.
In 2020-2021 (Mate 40 Pro) and 2022 (Mate 50 Pro), Huawei had to source key components from U.S. device manufacturers such as Qualcomm and Fairchild as it could no longer rely on its own semiconductor device subsidiary, Hisilicon. At the time, this company was denied access to Taiwan-based TSMC and, therefore, advanced node capability.
Pierre Cambou from Yole Group
The U.S. device players benefited most from Huawei during 2020 and 2021. The ban forced Huawei to stockpile U.S.-sourced chips to support the good sales volume of the Mate 40 Pro.
In 2023, with the Mate 60 Pro, there is a complete substitution of U.S. devices and an important reduction of Japan-sourced devices as well. Domestically sourced devices from mainland China now make up 50% of the design win count: more importantly, they serve the most critical components of this premium segment phone.
A renewed supply chain – Special focus on critical components
The application processor has been developed by Hisilicon. It uses domestic player SMIC’s 7nm node and was much talked about as it shows that mainland China is now able to manufacture advanced node chips using DUV multi-patterning.
Equally important are all the Analog RF components, such as the Modem 5G transceiver and PMU, also from Chinese player Hisilicon.
The DRAM and NAND memories are not yet sourced from Chinese companies but from Korean manufacturer SK Hynix.
It is important to note that SK Hynix owns two advanced 12’’ fabs in Wuxi (China). Memory may have been sourced locally before the ban, but obviously not from a China-based player.
Many sensors are usually sourced from European players such as STMicroelectronics or ams-OSRAM for proximity detectors. Today, however, these are sourced from the Chinese player VisionICs.
Bosch remains a MEMS gyroscope supplier, and Sony a supplier of strategic image sensors.
All these components might eventually be sourced from Chinese players. Today, 50% of the design win list remains of foreign origin which helps maintain the phone’s high performance. Most of the critical substitutions have occurred, but the phone remains an assembly of semiconductors from all parts of the world.
With over two decades of extensive experience, experts at Yole Group meticulously curate the latest and most innovative smartphones in the market. They offer daily assessments on technology and cost, providing detailed breakdowns and estimated manufacturer pricing. Comprehensive component identification is accompanied by high-resolution photographs for detailed scrutiny.
In the upcoming weeks, Yole Group will continue its investigation, analyzing Huawei’s technical decisions in its latest products. Simultaneously, smartphones from Apple, Samsung, and others will also undergo thorough analysis and comparison.
Stay tuned to yolegroup.com to follow the industry (r)evolution!
About the author
Pierre Cambou, MSc, MBA, is Principal Analyst, Global Semiconductors at Yole Group.
Pierre’s mission is dedicated to market & technology analyses of the semiconductor industry.
At Yole Group, Pierre has authored numerous market & technology products. Acknowledged as an expert in the semiconductor industry, he is regularly interviewed and quoted by leading international media.
Previously, Pierre held several positions at Thomson TCS, which became Atmel Grenoble (France) in 2001 and e2v Semiconductors in 2006. In 2012, he founded a semiconductor startup that was later acquired by Wx Solutions.
Pierre holds an engineering degree from Université de Technologie de Compiègne (France) and a Master of Science from Virginia Tech. (VA, USA). Pierre also graduated with an MBA from Grenoble Ecole de Management (France).
Pierre Cambou Principal Analyst, Global Semiconductors at Yole GroupAt that time, Huawei’s front runner was a premium phone called the Mate 30 Pro. It had one more go with the Mate 40 Pro before its market share collapsed to a mere 1% of the global mobile market as the successor, the Mate 50 Pro, was not 5G capable and was produced in anecdotal quantities.
