Apple’s continued in-house manufacture of processors for iPhones and iPads paid off handsomely in 2015, as it took second place in the smartphone chip market and premier position in the tablet processor market, according to new data released today by Strategy Analytics.
Apple is said to have captured 21% of the first market – behind only Qualcomm with 42%. It was, of course, last year that Apple debuted the A9 chip in the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, while the A8-powered iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were the company’s flagship handsets for most of 2015.
Meanwhile, in the tablet space, Apple easily led with its 31% share. Its nearest competitor, Qualcomm, mustered just 16%, while Intel closely followed with 14%. In November, Apple started shipping the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the first – and, so far, only – device to include the beefy A9X processor.
The figures help to demonstrate Apple’s continued formidable presence despite its recent brief unseating by Alphabet as the world’s most valuable company. In the new issue of AppleMagazine released today, we look closer at why Apple should continue fending off the competition from Google’s parent company for many years yet.
