The global smartphone market suffered its first decline since 2023 in the first quarter of this year, according to market tracker International Corp Data (IDC), with the memory chip supply crunch and war in Iran likely to elevate costs and constrain growth further.
Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co were the only top-five brands to post growth, as each increased shipments by more than 3 percent year-on-year while the overall market fell 4.1 percent, the IDC said on Tuesday.
With roughly a fifth of overall shipments each, the two biggest companies are better positioned to secure long-term supply and handle surging costs than Chinese peers. Rivals from Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) to Xiaomi Corp (小米) saw shipments plummet this year, as component and logistical costs surged.
Photo: Qilai Shen, Bloomberg
“We expect the first quarter slowdown to be a mild precursor for what lies ahead in 2026,” IDC analysts led by Nabila Popal said in a report. “In several emerging markets, prices have risen by as much as 40–50 percent, significantly weighing on demand.”
Apple had a strong quarter in China, with its popular iPhone 17 series helping it to 30 percent growth in the world’s biggest smartphone arena. Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Honor Device Co (榮耀) also managed to grow their shipments over the period, with the latter’s overseas expansion helping deliver a 24 percent improvement on the prior year, IDC said. Still, all companies will have to adapt their lineups to account for a memory chip crunch that’s expected to last until the second half of next year.
Counterpoint Research data released last week also found a 6 percent drop in first-quarter shipments, though it placed Apple ahead of Samsung in the market-share rankings. Both market-tracking firms pinned the blame primarily on the impact of surging memory costs.
Beside more expensive parts and materials, smartphone brands also face higher shipping costs due to conflict in the Middle East, and many are now reorganizing their spending, Popal said. That includes lowering the specifications of certain models and cutting back on marketing and support for distributors, which is limiting growth, she said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
RSS