Global smartphone shipments are to fall nearly 12 percent to 1.2 billion units this year, market research firm International Data Corp (IDC) said on Wednesday, citing lower consumer spending due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual forecast follows a record 11.7 percent year-on-year drop in the three months ending March.
The latest projections are a dramatic revision of an annual forecast by IDC in February, after the virus first hit, that predicted a 2.3 percent decline.
Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times
The pandemic has not only disrupted business supply chains, with major smartphone makers such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co flagging financial hits, but also squeezed consumer spending worldwide.
“What started as a supply-side crisis has evolved into a global demand-side problem,” IDC senior research analyst Sangeetika Srivastava said in a statement. “Nationwide lockdowns and rising unemployment have reduced consumer confidence and reprioritized spending toward essential goods, directly impacting the uptake of smartphones in the short term.”
Apple, which was forced to shut retail stores in the US and Europe following the outbreak, introduced discounts on the iPhone 11 in China and released a new low-price SE model to weather a plunge in global smartphone demand.
Taipei-based research firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in April that it expected global smartphone production to slump a record 16.5 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier.
That follows a 10 percent drop in output worldwide in the March quarter, when the outbreak spread and peaked in China before sweeping through Europe and the US.
However, shipments from China’s factories to vendors rose 17 percent in April from a year earlier, suggesting signs of an early rebound in domestic demand in the world’s largest smartphone market.
In China, where the economy has begun to reopen and factories have resumed operations, IDC expects a single-digit decline this year.
Europe, on the other hand, has suffered a heavier toll from the pandemic and is expected to experience deeper falls in spending and demand, it added.
The research firm also expects upcoming 5G deployment to help smartphone shipments recover next year, adding that it does not expect growth to return until the first quarter of next year.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
Taiwan’s natural gas supply remains stable through the end of May, despite rising concerns about potential disruptions to Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies due to escalating conflicts in the Middle East, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan has completed preparations for natural gas supply and shipping schedules through the end of May. It has also made plans to increase natural gas imports from regions outside the Middle East in June to ensure a stable supply, it added. Taiwan sources natural gas from 14 countries and is not solely dependent on the Middle East,
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
Grab Holdings Ltd agreed to buy Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda operations in Taiwan for US$600 million, a deal that marks its first foray outside of its Southeast Asian base. The cash acquisition will allow Grab to expand into 21 cities across Taiwan, the Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery company said in a statement yesterday. Grab expects the transaction to be completed in the second half, subject to regulatory approvals. The purchase will give Grab a presence on the island of about 23 million people, helping it to expand beyond its intensely competitive home market. Grab has seen growth slow dramatically as it takes
RSS