Interview: From dual camera modules to LTE feature phones, Spreadtrum's going for a home-run

There's competition everywhere. From mobile phone makers to telecom operators, everyone is fighting to stay on top by connecting with consumers in most unique ways possible. The chipset industry, which largely comprises of two names – Qualcomm and MediaTek – is also headed in the direction of intense competition.

Spreadtrum is one of the key players in the chipset industry, but its strong association with affordable smartphones has kept it away from the spotlight. While Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung are speaking of high-performance octa-core and quad-core chips, Spreadtrum made strides in the ultra-affordable chips by making LTE feature phones a reality.

Spreadtrum's chips for affordable mobile devices isn't going to define the company for long. The Chinese chip maker is also brainstorming ideas to accommodate new features such as dual camera, iris scanner and more.

International Business Times, India, sat down with Spreadtrum Communications head of India operations – Neeraj Sharma – for a quick interaction about company's strategic plans and goals for India & Asian region. Below are the edited excerpts from our interaction with Sharma.

IBTimes, India: After Jio making 4G data affordable, do you think it's about time phone makers tune their strategies to build cheaper devices to support LTE and VoLTE?

Neeraj Sharma: There is no doubt that to achieve the ambitious vision of a truly Digital India, increasing the affordability and accessibility of devices with 4G/LTE and VoLTE capabilities has to be a priority for mobile phone manufacturers in the country. However, the challenge that India faces today is not restricted to enabling better access to high-speed internet and VoLTE devices. There is also a pressing need to make Indian consumers aware about how the data can be best utilised, particularly in tier-2 and tier-3 cities and rural areas.

This can only be done through strong collaborations between device manufacturers and network operators, the two key stakeholders in the telecommunications space. In order to popularise LTE and VoLTE capabilities across India, mobile brands are looking at exploring strategic partnerships and tighter integrations with chipset manufacturers to develop more affordable VoLTE-enabled devices.

One promising development in this regard has been the launch of highly affordable 4G/VoLTE feature phones offering internet-based features like support for social networking, email, internet browsing, music, camera, etc. On their part, telecom operators are also looking at exploring sustainable measures of making high-speed data packages available to their subscribe whilst also educating them about how to best utilise the network data at their disposal.

IBT: Spreadtrum has largely been associated with affordable smartphones, how does it compete against rivals Qualcomm and MediaTek?

Sharma: With our focus on technological innovation and improvement, Spreadtrum has today firmly established itself as one of the global leaders in the chipset domain. But while we have been particularly dominant in the affordable smartphone space, our cutting-edge technological capabilities extend to quad-core and octa-core phones as well. We have been constantly innovating and upgrading by developing smarter and faster chipsets with advanced features like eMBMS, VoWiFi, Dual Camera, Carrier Aggregation, etc., and are also coming up with high-performance octa-core chipsets. Additionally, Spreadtrum has recently launched SC9861G-IA, a 14nm octa-core 64-bit CAT 7 high-end LTE chipset in collaboration with Intel. This augmentation of our technological expertise is what is helping us carve out a niche in the highly-competitive chipset market.

IBT: How does Spreadtrum's partnership with Intel help accelerate its growth?

Sharma: Intel is the most dominant player when it comes to powerful PC processors and is renowned for its innovations and capabilities for larger devices. Through the collaboration with Intel, we are trying to develop similarly high-performing chipsets for mobile phones. We have been using Intel's foundry for fabricating our processors. At the recently concluded Mobile World Congress, Spreadtrum in collaboration with Intel launched SC9861G-IA, a 14 nm, 8-core, 64-bit LTE chipset that has a very efficient power-management design and delivers a delightful experience to users worldwide. Spreadtrum's SC9853, a LTE CAT 7 SoC with Intel Airmont Architecture CPU is another high-end chipset that we have launched with Intel.

IBT: As Spreadtrum works with Samsung, Jio, Micromax, Lava and Intex, which of these companies have stepped up the pace in bringing cheapest 4G VoLTE feature phones to market?

Sharma: At Spreadtrum, our aim is to enable better access to the latest mobility technology to consumers across the world. This is why we are partnering with leading mobile brands like Samsung, Reliance, Micromax, Lava, Intex and Zen for a faster and greater penetration of 4G/VoLTE services across India. Each brand has its own core competencies and USPs, and all are committed to providing the best and most relevant devices to the consumer segments that they cater to.

IBT: What are your immediate plans for India?

Sharma: From quad core processors to octa core processors, Spreadtrum has a diverse range of affordable and powerful mobile chipset solutions on offer.

Constant reinvention is paramount for us, which is why we keep enhancing our product portfolio by integrating innovative features like eMBMS, VoWiFi, Carrier Aggregation and Dual Camera into our chipsets. Enabling high-quality mobile cameras is a core focus area for us, which is why dual camera modules will be permanent fixtures in our product portfolio going forwards.

Through our partnership with Intel, we are looking to break through the cost barrier and bring higher processing power – which has hitherto been restricted to high-end devices and will bring to mainstream devices. With wireless financial transactions increasing exponentially with every passing day, we are also actively integrating advanced security and payments solutions on a hardware level. We have been working on algorithms for iris scanner and fingerprint recognition to facilitate a smoother rollout of turnkey solutions, while better and more secure payments solutions are also being enabled through integrated Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities.

We have also been constantly enhancing our LTE feature phone portfolio with innovative integrations. Spreadtrum's LTE SoC platform, SC9820 has been adopted by Lava for India's first 4Genabled feature phone, Lava Connect M1.