The smartphone market is showing signs of recovery, as production volume increased 10.5 percent on a quarterly basis to 344 million units last quarter, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday in a report.
However, the volume decreased 2.4 percent annually due to lingering uncertainties in the international market, TrendForce said.
Samsung Electronics Co retained its top place with a production volume of 76.5 million units, the best single-quarter performance since last year, while Huawei Technologies Co (華為) continued to suffer from US sanctions, with output declining 13 percent quarterly to 52.5 million units, ending a five-quarter growth streak, the report showed.
Although the US government has delayed tariffs on US$300 billion of Chinese goods, including smartphones, until December, Huawei is still on a blacklist and would continue to see its effects on overseas sales this quarter, TrendForce said.
The Chinese smartphone giant’s production performance might also be affected if it cannot remedy a restriction barring it from the Android operating system, the research firm said.
Apple Inc came in third after its production volume declined to the lowest since 2015 at 38.8 million units, the report said.
TrendForce attributed the weak performance to high prices for iPhones and a lack of innovation, which discouraged customers from purchasing new devices, as well as declining sales in China due to the US-China trade dispute.
As new US tariffs loom, Apple might see its profit further compromised in the short term as it struggles to relocate its iPhone production plants in China, TrendForce said.
Despite intensified competition in the domestic and foreign markets, Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀), Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Vivo Communication Technology Co (維沃) took fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively, the report said.
OPPO witnessed a boost in its Southeast Asian sales as its production volume last quarter increased to 35 million units, while Xiaomi remained flat at 30.8 million units, with shipments equally divided among the Chinese, Indian and other markets, it said.
As the trade dispute remains unresolved and trade frictions between Japan and South Korea intensify, the traditional peak season for the smartphone market in the second half of the year might be whittled down, TrendForce said.
Global smartphone production volume is predicted to reach 363 million units this quarter and end this year with 1.38 billion units, down 5 percent annually, the report said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last