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.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new