Chinese players are disrupting the market: Huawei, Vivo, Xiaomi, Oppo and Honor lead a fiercely competitive Chinese smartphone market, enabling domestic RF suppliers to scale and innovate.
There is a shift towards simplification and compactness: Chinese OEMs are shifting towards co-integration of multiple functionalities into a smaller number of modules, reducing the BOM and PCB space.
This is putting the current market leaders under pressure: Qualcomm (21% share), Broadcom (18%), Qorvo, Skyworks, and Murata face cost pressure and shrinking share as Chinese competitors gain traction
Also, 6G is on the horizon and R&D is accelerating on 6GHz and FR3-band modules, with Chinese players preparing to enter the 6G era with significant in-house capabilities.
“The RF front-end module market is entering a new era of competition. Many Chinese OEMs and suppliers are no longer followers,” says Yole’s Hassan Saleh. “At Yole Group, we see that they are now setting the pace, driving innovation with an expanding domestic ecosystem of foundries and IDMs and technological capabilities. This rising pressure is forcing historical leaders to adapt quickly, streamline their architectures, and protect their market share in an increasingly cost-sensitive environment.”
Chinese OEMs are the engine of this transformation. In 2024 the Chinese smartphone market grew by 6% year-on-year, fuelled by surging demand and AI-driven innovation. Huawei’s comeback has been spectacular, posting 25% y-o-y growth and reclaiming the premium segment, while Vivo captured the number one spot with a 17% share. Xiaomi, Oppo and Honor maintained solid positions with 15% each, creating a highly competitive domestic landscape.
These market dynamics have empowered Chinese RF suppliers to propose innovative solutions and develop a vertically integrated supply chain, particularly at the filter level and including SAW and BAW. This ecosystem is supported by government incentives and positions Chinese players to challenge long-established suppliers.
“Filters are the second-largest RF front-end market segment, and despite the rise of SiP modules, some applications still require discrete filters, creating a strong opportunity to assess BAW technologies across players, applications, and costs,” says Yole’s Ihor Pershukov.
Traditional leaders such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Qorvo, Skyworks and Murata still control over 70% of the global market but are facing increasing competition. Qualcomm leads with a 21% share, thanks to its end-to-end platform strategy, followed by Broadcom with 18%, due to its FBAR filter solutions for Apple. However, pricing pressure and Chinese OEM preferences are reshaping design wins and margins.
For example, the Chinese player Maxscend leads among Chinese suppliers with a 4% share, dominating in discrete devices and growing its module business through vertical filter integration. Other Chinese companies such as Lansus, Vanchip, OnMicro, SmarterMicro and HiSilicon are also gaining traction, benefitting from Huawei’s domestic supply chain realignment and its push to secure local design wins.
The next battlefield will be 6G, starting with 6GHz band front-end modules and progressing to FR3 modules by the end of the decade. Unlike during the 5G rollout, Chinese companies are expected to enter 6G with full domestic capabilities, supported by strong government backing and an evolving foundry ecosystem — a shift that could redefine the global RFFE market balance.
