Smartphones in Taiwan will account for nearly 30 percent of the nation’s total mobile phone shipments this year as more low-priced models are expected to be launched, consulting firm International Data Corp (IDC) said on Friday.
Worldwide smartphone shipments are forecast to reach 428 million units this year compared to 270 million units last year, an increase of more than 50 percent, according to IDC.
Smartphone shipments in Taiwan, which accounted for between 21 percent and 22 percent of total mobile phone shipments last year, will increase to between 29 percent and 30 percent this year, higher than the global average of 26 percent, IDC senior analyst Joey Yen (嚴蘭欣) told reporters at a news conference.
“Chinese OEM [original equipment manufacturing] phone makers, such as ZTE Co [中興] and Huawei Technologies Co [華為], are ready to unveil more smartphones at a price of NT$7,000 to NT$8,000 [US$240 to US$274] in Taiwan this year, providing more product choices for local consumers and improving the popularity of smartphones,” she said.
The move will also change the current ranking of smartphone shipments, particularly the top five brands, as the number of phones that run Google Inc’s Android operating system is increasing, Yen said.
In the third quarter last year, Nokia Corp, which uses the Symbian operating system on its smartphones, still topped the worldwide smartphone market with a 32.7 percent market share, followed by 17.4 percent for Apple Inc, 15.3 percent for Research In Motion, 8.9 percent for Samsung Electronics Co and 7.2 percent for HTC Corp (宏達電), said IDC.
Global smartphone shipments by Samsung, which launched a slew of Android-based models last year, grew to 7.2 million units in the third quarter of last year compared to 1.3 million units a year earlier, an increase of 453.8 percent that surpassed the performance of all other smartphone makers.
TECH TITAN: Pandemic-era demand for semiconductors turbocharged the nation’s GDP per capita to surpass South Korea’s, but it still remains half that of Singapore Taiwan is set to surpass South Korea this year in terms of wealth for the first time in more than two decades, marking a shift in Asia’s economic ranks made possible by the ascent of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). According to the latest forecasts released on Thursday by the central bank, Taiwan’s GDP is expected to expand 4.55 percent this year, a further upward revision from the 4.45 percent estimate made by the statistics bureau last month. The growth trajectory puts Taiwan on track to exceed South Korea’s GDP per capita — a key measure of living standards — a
READY TO HELP: Should TSMC require assistance, the government would fully cooperate in helping to speed up the establishment of the Chiayi plant, an official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its investment plans in Taiwan are “unchanged” amid speculation that the chipmaker might have suspended construction work on its second chip packaging plant in Chiayi County and plans to move equipment arranged for the plant to the US. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier yesterday that TSMC had halted the construction of the chip packaging plant, which was scheduled to be completed next year and begin mass production in 2028. TSMC did not directly address whether construction of the plant had halted, but said its investment plans in Taiwan remain “unchanged.” The chipmaker started
MORTGAGE WORRIES: About 34% of respondents to a survey said they would approach multiple lenders to pay for a home, while 29.2% said they would ask family for help New housing projects in Taiwan’s six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county, are projected to total NT$710.65 billion (US$23.61 billion) in the upcoming fall sales season, a record 30 percent decrease from a year earlier, as tighter mortgage rules prompt developers to pull back, property listing platform 591.com (591新建案) said yesterday. The number of projects has also fallen to 312, a more than 20 percent decrease year-on-year, underscoring weakening sentiment and momentum amid lingering policy and financing headwinds. New Taipei City and Taoyuan bucked the downturn in project value, while Taipei, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung
Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星科技) is expanding notebook computer production in India after partnering with Indian electronics maker Syrma SGS Technology Ltd late last year, as the Taiwanese company seeks to tap into the local market. MSI also plans to manufacture some of its new gaming PCs powered by Nvidia Corp’s RTX 50 graphics cards in India, while adding more advanced and design-focused PCs and notebooks at Syrma’s plant in Chennai, a source told the Taipei Times yesterday on condition of anonymity. MSI’s deployment in India is driven not only by cost advantages, but also by India’s rapidly expanding consumer market and
RSS