Apple has highest Q4 quarter-to-quarter growth, according to the latest market research report from Jon Peddie Research.

Shipments of graphic processing units (GPUs) in mobile devices hit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% in 2011, according to the new market report available from Jon Peddie Research.

Samsung’s sales surged in Q3 and Q4 giving them the highest CAGR for the year (39%), followed by Apple (26%), and Qualcomm (16.5%) which was already enjoying high shipment rates

In terms of shipments Qualcomm lead the pact and ended up with 31% market share for the year, followed by Apple (23%) and TI (17%).

Other suppliers in the market include Broadcom, Freescale, Intel, Marvell, MediaTek, Rockchip, St-Erickson, and Wonder Media.

Mobile devices GPUs are now as powerful or more so as entry-level PC GPUs and run applications that use Open GL ES 1.1 to 2.0. They have programmable shaders and can deliver amazing game play, UI and browser acceleration, and accelerate the new potentially killer app augmented-reality (AR). Unlike their PC counterparts, many of the GPUs in mobile devices have image processing functions and can handle camera inputs directly. They also include video processing and drive 1080p HDTVs or monitors via HDMI.

In addition to the semiconductor suppliers there are four GPU IP suppliers: ARM, DMP, Imagination Technologies, and Vivante. Those companies provide IP to all of the system on a chip (SoC) builders except Broadcom, Nvidia, and Qualcomm.

2012 is shaping up to be a battle royal, with Samsung making big gains, Apple continuing its relentless growth, TI fighting back and Nvidia gaining design wins.

More information: Jon Peddie Research.