Global smartphone shipments might decline 2.1 percent next year as a shortage of memory chips drives up costs and squeezes production, industry tracker Counterpoint Research said yesterday.
That marks a dramatic reversal from an estimated 3.3 percent gain this year, with the influential research firm slashing its projection for next year from a previous estimate of marginal 0.45 percent growth.
The average selling price for handsets is set to rise 6.9 percent globally next year, reflecting a 10 percent to 25 percent jump in the overall cost of components, Counterpoint said in a research report.
Photo: AFP
The global artificial intelligence (AI) build-out has spurred semiconductor producers this year to prioritize advanced memory for Nvidia Corp accelerators over more basic products. That in turn has fomented a shortage of the DRAM that is indispensable in electronics from laptops and electric vehicles to medical devices and appliances.
In the past few months, consumer electronics makers including Xiaomi Corp (小米) have sounded the alarm about potential price increases, while others including Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) have begun stockpiling memory in anticipation of rising costs.
Nintendo Co’s shares have declined most of this month as concerns grow about the impact on its flagship Switch 2 console and profitability.
With smartphones, Chinese brands such as Honor Device Co (榮耀) and Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) are seen as more vulnerable because of their lower margins.
The memory deficit is likely to hurt entry-level smartphones in particular, Counterpoint said.
“Apple and Samsung are best-positioned to weather the next few quarters,” Counterpoint senior analyst Yang Wang said. “But it will be tough for others that don’t have as much wiggle room to manage market share versus profit margins. We will see this play out especially with the Chinese OEMs as the year progresses.”
The consumer impact could be felt in several ways.
One approach would be for companies to push users to more premium models, where the profit impact will be less severe, the research firm said.
Other options include reusing old components, downgrading other specifications such as cameras, or just selling handsets with less memory, Counterpoint said in its report.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS