In view of increasing competition from large-screen smartphones, small-size (mainly 7-inch) tablet vendors have added 3G/4G voice communication functions and enlarged screen sizes and display resolution (from HD to Full HD) to keep their tablets competitive, according to industry sources. Consequently, smartphone chip vendors, including Qualcomm, Intel and MediaTek, have increased resources for developing tablet chip solutions, the sources said.

Because global demand for tablets is only about one-fifth of that for smartphones and prices for tablet chips are only about one-third of those for smartphone chips, international smartphone chip vendors were originally unwilling to devote much effort to developing tablet chip solutions, the sources explained. As a result, China-based IC design houses including Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics, Allwinner Technology and Actions Semiconductor have become main suppliers of tablet chips, the sources noted.

More than 30% of small-size tablets will be equipped with 3G/4G communication functions in 2014 and the penetration is expected to rise to 50% in 2015, the sources said. More and more 4G-enabled tablets will be available in 2015, and the trend is favorable for international smartphone chip vendors and thereby they may dominate global tablet chip market in 2015, the sources indicated.