Samsung Electronics Co led Asian mobile phone shares lower after profit and sales at Motorola Inc, the world's second-largest manufacturer of handsets, missed analysts' estimates.
Shares of Samsung, the world's third-largest mobile-phone maker, slipped 2 percent to its lowest close since July 24 in Seoul.
Seoul-based LG Electronics Inc, Asia's second-largest producer, fell 1.6 percent, its biggest drop in a month.
Motorola suppliers in Asia such as Foxconn International Holdings Ltd also declined.
Motorola, the first among the world's largest handset makers to disclose earnings, stoked concern that producers were sacrificing profits for market share.
Rivals including industry leader Nokia Oyj are cutting prices to compete in emerging markets such as China and India, eroding margins.
"Motorola and Nokia are leaving every handset maker at the low end in the dust at the expense of a price war," said Paul Sagawa, a New York-based analyst with Sanford C Bernstein & Co, who rates Motorola's stock "market perform."
"You're going to have some fairly sharp downward revisions for 2007," he said.
Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, said late yesterday that fourth-quarter sales and earnings-per-share had fallen short of the company's own forecasts.
The company said it plans to discuss how it will improve profitability when it reports fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 19.
On Wednesday, Citigroup Inc cut its fourth-quarter operating profit forecast for Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung by 10 percent, partly because of mobile phones.
Samsung spokesman Ken Noh declined to comment on the company's handset earnings ahead of the company's Jan. 12 earnings announcement.
Falling prices are forcing Pantech Co, Korea's third-largest mobile phone maker, to ask creditors to delay debt payments.
In September, Taiwan's BenQ Corp (
Shares of Foxconn, the world's biggest contract cell-phone maker, fell as much as 3.4 percent in Hong Kong. BYD Co, a maker of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in Motorola phones, dropped as much as 2.6 percent.
"We are very disappointed with our fourth-quarter financial performance," said Motorola CEO Ed Zander.
Sales were US$11.6 billion to US$11.8 billion, less than the company's Oct. 17 forecast of as much as US$12.1 billion and the US$12 billion average of 24 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Motorola forecast profit to fall to 13 cents to 16 cents a share, missing analysts' estimates and the company's own projections.
Motorola blamed its latest earnings shortfall on cheap handsets.
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said on Oct. 10 that average selling prices had fallen 9 percent to 93 euros (US$122) in the third-quarter as the company based in Espoo, Finland, tapped emerging markets to boost sales.
Nokia, which reports fourth-quarter results on Jan. 25, was China's top handset seller in the third quarter with a market share of 36.6 percent, ahead of Motorola's 23.3 percent, according to researcher IDC. China is the world's largest mobile market by users.
Motorola faces "a retrenched Nokia that is hell-bent on not losing market share," said Mark Sue, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York, who rates Motorola shares "outperform."
"We're going to have increased competition," he said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source