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Discrete mobile GPU decline continues in Q4

But will Q1 2006 reverse the trend?

Notebooks using integrated graphics chips outsold those kitted out with discrete GPUs by almost three to one last quarter, data from market watcher Jon Peddie Research (JPR) suggests. Put it this way: in the mobile graphics chip market during Q4 2005, integrated graphics engines accounted for 74 per cent of sales, while discrete graphics chips took around 26 per cent.

The numbers don't match up because of the small number of systems that ship with both. That should make for some interesting figures for Q1 2006, a period which will see computer makers, including Sony and Apple, ship machines with Intel 945GM integrated chipsets and ATI or Nvidia GPUs. Apple's desktop iMacs are based on Intel's mobile technology, as are a fair few Viiv-branded media centre PCs.

Even so, the trend seen in 2005 is likely to continue. Discrete GPUs accounted for just under 40 per cent of the mobile graphics chip market in Q1, and the figure's been falling steadily ever since. By contrast, the integrated segment ended Q1 2005 with just over 60 per cent of the market, rising to 74 per cent, JPR's numbers show.

In the mobile market as a whole, Intel retained its Q3 2005 market lead. ATI commanded the discrete market, taking a single percentage point of share away from Nvidia. Intel's chipset supply woes saw it lose share in the integrated segment, almost entirely to ATI. ®

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