Global smartphone shipments are expected to fall 6.5 percent to 1.27 billion units this year, market research firm International Data Corp (IDC) said in a report last week, slashing its June forecast of a 3.5 percent year-on-year fall.
IDC attributed the downward revision to rising inflation, geopolitical tensions and other macroeconomic challenges that have significantly weakened demand, the report said.
While the market researcher views the decline as a short-term setback and expects the market to rebound next year with a 5.2 percent annual increase in terms of shipments, it cut its five-year compound annual growth rate projection to 1.4 percent through 2026, from the previous estimate of 1.9 percent.
Photo courtesy of Samsung Electronics Co
“The supply constraints pulling down on the market since last year have eased and the industry has shifted to a demand-constrained market,” IDC research director Nabila Popal wrote in the report.
However, many smartphone brands have drastically cut back orders for this year amid “high inventory in channels and low demand with no signs of immediate recovery,” Popal wrote.
“The events of the last twelve months have shaved 150 million units off the market for 2022 from our forecast in the second quarter of 2021,” she wrote.
IDC said the slowdown hit emerging markets harder than developed markets, with China likely to see the most significant volume drop of 12.5 percent, or about 41 million units, which amounts to almost half of the overall reduction in global shipments this year.
Shipments in central and eastern Europe are expected to decline 17.4 percent, while those in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan and China are predicted to drop 4.5 percent from the previous forecast of 3 percent growth, the report said.
In contrast, shipments in the US are forecast to edge up 0.3 percent and the Canadian market is to see shipments increase 3.2 percent this year, while western Europe would post a 0.7 percent decline, it said.
“Despite the unit decline, average selling prices have grown 10 percent year over year in Q2 and are forecast to grow 6.3 percent for the full year,” Popal wrote.
In the smartphone market, the premium segment has proved resilient to the economic turmoil and has grown 4 percentage points to 16 percent of the overall market and would continue to grow, she said.
The segment refers to smartphones priced at US$800 or more per unit, with foldable devices the fastest-growing segment that would see shipments increase 70 percent year-on-year to 13.5 million units this year, she added.
US sports leagues rushed to get in on the multi-billion US dollar bonanza of legalized betting, but the arrest of an National Basketball Association (NBA) coach and player in two sprawling US federal investigations show the potential cost of partnering with the gambling industry. Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and an NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested for his alleged role in rigged illegal poker games that prosecutors say were tied to Mafia crime families. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was charged with manipulating his play for the benefit of bettors and former NBA player and
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council uses a five-color system to measure the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” reflecting a recession. “Yellow-red” and “yellow-blue” suggest a transition to a stronger or weaker condition. The total score of the monitor’s composite index rose to 35 points from a revised 31 in August, ending a four-month
RSS