Smartphone chipmakers cut customers' costs by finding phone components

By Michael Gold TAIPEI (Reuters) - Suppliers of chips to smartphone makers are taking the unusual step of helping customers procure other phone components such as speakers and camera lenses in a bid to win more business in an increasingly competitive sector. Demand for smartphone chips, needed to support capabilities ranging from voice recognition to flash photography, is growing in part due to a spurt in the low-end but feature-packed phone segment. The spotlight on costs has ramped up competition among chipmakers like Qualcomm Inc and MediaTek Inc. Besides cutting prices, they are also saving phone makers the expense of finding and testing, for instance, the speakers and camera lenses that get the most out of their audio and photography chips. "In the past, Qualcomm would just offer the chips and the manufacturer would do the whole device," David Tokunaga, a senior director in product management at Qualcomm, told Reuters.



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