The embedded WiFi market summed up in the middle of the year, it turns out that these three axes are the real killer

Release date：2016-07-22   Views：4041

The price war of embedded WiFi market continues, and the module price once dropped to 8 yuan. How can chip manufacturers and module manufacturers get rid of the trouble of low price competition?

From blue ocean to blood sea, the market changes so fast that you feel "fantastic".

In 2014, the embedded WiFi market has just started, and most chip manufacturers have not seen the market direction clearly. Only a year of development, the market ushered in an outbreak, the total shipment at least three times more, many chip manufacturers to step up the layout. Unexpectedly, in 2016, the market has become a sea of blood, although it is not "dead everywhere", but the major manufacturers are also "scarred".

So, what's the current embedded WiFi market like? What is the survival status of chip manufacturers? Xiaobian had the honor to visit a circle and make a brief summary so that we can have a clear understanding.

The market is growing steadily, and the price war continues

On the whole, different from the "Crazy" market in 2015, the market has returned to rationality in 2016. Home appliance manufacturers and intelligent hardware manufacturers have begun to reflect on what problems the users have solved after networking, instead of blindly following the public. However, the market scale is still in steady growth. It is estimated that this year's shipment will exceed 100 million pieces, of which 60% will be used in household appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, rice cookers, and the remaining 40% will be used in daily necessities such as sockets, speakers, lamps and lanterns.

Lexin: the dishes are very large, and they are highly accepted by users at home and abroad. After esp8266 was widely recognized, Lexin also launched esp8285, which integrated external flash chip, further reducing the module cost and development difficulty. The recently launched esp32 uses a 32-bit Tensilica L108 processor and integrates Bluetooth and WiFi functions, which may be able to expand more application scenarios of the Internet of things.

In 2015, Lexin's shipment volume exceeded 10 million, and the module price remained at around 10 yuan. It is estimated that the global shipment volume this year will reach 60 million pieces, accounting for more than 50% of the market share.

Lianshengde: focus on differentiated audio and video application market route. Because w500 uses A9 kernel, it has large cache and processing capacity. It is a bit "overqualified" to only do control and transparent transmission, so it is suitable for occasions with high processing capacity, such as intelligent toys, intelligent speakers, etc.

Last year, lianshengde shipped only 1 million pieces, and the module price is only slightly higher than that of low-end chip modules. It is expected that the shipment volume will reach 3 million this year. In the second half of this year, a new embedded WiFi chip with M3 core will also be launched.

Southern Silicon Valley: in addition to Lexin's esp8266, the 6060 in southern Silicon Valley is also aimed at the low-end market. In the aspect of system software, it mainly cooperates with Hanfeng. In the case of strong alliance, it is estimated that the shipment volume will reach at least 3 million this year.

Yingnuofei: mainly for low-power Internet of things applications (cc3200 of Ti), such as access control system, warehouse management, etc., on the one hand, it uses low-power processor; on the other hand, it changes time domain and frequency domain at RF end, so as to reduce the power consumption of embedded WiFi. The chip will be in mass production in the second half of this year.

MTK: the promotion in the embedded WiFi market is relatively small, mainly with the help of module manufacturers. Its main business focus is still the mobile phone and TV market, with the TV market accounting for more than 80%. In fact, mt7681 has made some achievements in the market. However, the newly launched mt7688 uses MIPS architecture and Linux system, mainly aiming at the router market.

Realtek: continue to make efforts in the embedded WiFi market, but due to the short time, the market share is not high now. On the basis of rtl8710, Realtek launched rtl8711, mainly aimed at the low-end market (esp8266 of Lexin), and the module price even dropped to 8 yuan (the price of module manufacturer plus software labor cost was about 10 yuan). The software system mainly cooperates with Qingke and uses mico system. Therefore, with the joint promotion of Qingke, it is expected that the shipment volume this year should not be less than 300 pieces.

Qualcomm: mainly for the high-end market, most of the shipment is in large appliance manufacturers, such as Midea, Haier, Gree, etc. The biggest advantage of qca4004 and qca4010 lies in low stability and low power consumption. The third generation of low-power technology is used to reduce the power consumption of chips from protocol, firmware to RF.

In 2015, the chip shipment volume was 10 million, and the module price remained at about 30 yuan. It is estimated that the shipment volume in 2016 will reach 30 million pieces. It is said that under the huge competition pressure, the price of the module has also dropped to less than 20 yuan.

Ti: there is not much promotion in the embedded WiFi market, but cc3200 is still in shipment. It is said that the selling price of the agent has reached as high as $5. The power consumption of cc3200 chip is the lowest in the industry.

In fact, the price of modules in the market is generally around 12 yuan. After all, only a few of them can achieve a "big sale at a loss" of 8 yuan. However, most of the module manufacturers have been deterred. Because for module manufacturers, it is impossible for them to develop continuously without making money. The more you sell, the more you lose, the faster you will die.

(for more price information, please refer to the previous article "6 yuan embedded WiFi blood washing MCU market! Teach you three steps to escape from life. ")

(Note: the above data is from the research and analysis of "smart product circle", for reference only!)

If chip manufacturers want to get out of the price quagmire, these three axes must be refined

One of the three board axe Technology: the core technology of embedded WiFi chip includes radio frequency, power consumption and software system. The reason why many chip manufacturers are going further and further on the road of low price is that they have not made a breakthrough in technology. For example, in terms of low-power implementation, domestic chip manufacturers are far behind foreign chip manufacturers.

Liu Jiayin, marketing director of yingnuofei, told the reporter of smart product circle: "ti's cc3200 mainly adopts two technologies: first, the radio frequency dynamic switching is used to divide the signal into seven segments of 0-2db to 6-18db. For example, when WiFi is able to communicate in gear 0, it keeps the transmitted signal at 2dB, which greatly reduces the power of the chip; secondly, it lets the processor module that does not work Sleep, as for whether it is light sleep or deep sleep, depends on the length of sleep and the function of the module. For example, the launch logic will wake up once every once in a while, so you can only have a light sleep. "

(for more technical information, please refer to the previous article "chip companies and core technologies behind the 10 million WiFi module market")

The second market of the third board Axe: there are so many segmented markets of the Internet of things, so it is very important to find out the correct market positioning. Li Shaohui, marketing director of lianshengde, said: "there are many market segments for embedded WiFi chips. The first is the control type, that is, simple transparent transmission of small data. Sockets, bulbs and seats are all such applications; the second is audio and video type, which requires strong processing capacity, high-speed pins and other functional support, robots, cameras, speech recognition; and finally, low-power type The equipment generally relies on battery power supply and has high requirements for the endurance. For example, the access control system should be used for more than one year once installed. Otherwise, frequent battery replacement will bring poor user experience. "

Three board axe service: Guo runxuan, marketing director of benefactor Sanyou technology, said: "many times, for different application scenarios, the strong support of the original chip manufacturer is needed to realize the special adaptation of the chip. For example, voice control function is added to the embedded WiFi chip. However, generally, the voice SDK is very large, which requires appropriate deletion and the cooperation of the underlying system software The function of sound processing. " Therefore, the importance of service support is no less than the price of chips for electronic manufacturers and module manufacturers. For chip manufacturers, a good service system enables enterprises to have faster market response speed and in-depth understanding of customers' problems.

In fact, compared with foreign manufacturers, domestic chip manufacturers have natural advantages in service. Yan Shunjie, marketing manager of qundong technology, said: "in addition to important customers, foreign large factories rarely face customers directly. Most of them sell chips through agents. After module manufacturers get chips, they sell them to electronic manufacturers. Therefore, communication costs are high and the reaction time of original chip manufacturers is very slow. The original chip manufacturers in China directly face the module manufacturers and help them solve the problems they encounter

summary

With the increasing investment of home appliance manufacturers, the intelligent proportion of home appliances will be able to achieve full coverage in the next three years, and the embedded WiFi chip will also grow steadily. However, with the development of technology and the decline of prices, history may continue to repeat itself. Foreign manufacturers will gradually withdraw from the market, while domestic manufacturers will make great progress.

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