Apple Expected to Surpass Intel as Top Mobile Chipmaker
Market research firm NPD In-Stat believes that Apple will become the top-seller of mobile processors due to the success of its iPhone and iPad devices.
Of course, there is no reason to believe that Intel will give up its leadership position in x86 notebook processors, but there is an ongoing shift in the use of ARM-based processors in compact computing products, such as laptops and smartphones.
"Apple will likely capture the top spot in 2012, driven by its success in devices, such as the iPhone and iPad," said Jim McGregor, NPD In-Stat's chief technology strategist, in a statement published by PC Mag. "Other companies that benefitted greatly from new product releases or dominance by their OEM customers included Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Samsung." McGregor estimates that ARM will take about 73 percent of the mobile processor market this year.
"Although the total available market for mobile processors continues to grow, the emergence of industry leaders in the high-growth mobile device segment is becoming a key factor in the success of processor vendors," McGregor said. "Just having a captive market has propelled Apple into second place [in 2011] for the entire mobile processor market just behind industry leader Intel."
Intel's Medfield processor, which will debut this year in smartphones, can capture substantial market share in the mobile processor market as defined by In-Stat. The market research firm, however, believes that it will not arrive soon enough this year to make a big impact.

This headline is misleading, unless they consider designing chips as a "chipmaker"
This headline is misleading, unless they consider designing chips as a "chipmaker"
Is it 1st April yet?
other way around: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/03/16/ipad_a5x_processor_built_on_samsungs_45nm_technology.html
samsung does manufacture the "retina" display though
They don't even really design any of the individual components in their SOC's. They just compile the components from various "designers" into a single package.
But that is what most of the mobile chip manufactures do, don't they? Most of mobile ships from Samsung, Apple, or Qualcomm's are all based on the A4/A9/A12 CPU and PowerVR GPUs, aren't they?..
Most mobile companies does yes, Apple however will soon claim its their own like they always do while the rest stay in the reality!
You can edit that misstype by using 'Read the comments on the forums' and edit it there
The last thing Apple is is a chipmaker. I don't even think you could call them designers unless you count telling the chipmaker "we want it to be really fast, with really good graphics" as designing a chip. What Apple really is is a company that has one of the best marketing departments in the world. For the past 5 years they have been continually brainwashing people into believing they are the only thing out there.
I also have an ACER Iconia Android tablet which I actually like better than the Ipad and since I got the new Iphone 4S, I have been missing my HTC EVO. Come next upgrade period, I am getting an android phone and selling my Iphone (I should be able to get what I paid for it, they do keep their value)
??? What are you trying to say? That Samsung manufactures Apple's SOC's? Okay, though I'm not sure how that's related to my previous comment.
If you actually knew anything about integrated circuits, the article you cite emphatically makes the case that the chips are manufactured by Samsung, using Samsung's 45nm process, in Samsung's chip fabrication plant. Apple buys a license from ARM and other IP owners, integrates their technologies into a design and sends that design to Samsung for fabrication.
This headline is misleading, unless they consider designing chips as a "chipmaker""
Does this also mean that AMD is not a chip maker anymore now that they have given up their interest in Global Foundries and no longer manufacture any of their chips. I mean they just design them and GlobalFoundries (and possibly TSMC) manufactures the chips so by your logic even AMD is no longer a "Chipmaker." Apples name (or logo) is branded on the chip therefore they are the maker regardless of where the fabrication took place.