Semiconductor Shortage Impact... Global Smartphone Shipments Expected to Drop 10% in Q2

Samsung Electronics Also Faces Earnings Slump Outlook... Manufacturers Delay New Product Launches

[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] As the semiconductor shortage begins to seriously impact the smartphone industry, smartphone sales in the second quarter are expected to be sluggish, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 19th (local time). It is also anticipated that Samsung Electronics, the world's number one smartphone seller, will struggle.

Market research firm Counterpoint Research forecasted that global smartphone shipments in the second quarter will decrease by 10% compared to the first quarter. Counterpoint pointed out that although smartphone shipments typically increase in the second quarter compared to the first, this year is an exception due to shortages of key components such as semiconductors. Usually, smartphone manufacturers finalize contracts for major key components six months in advance. Because of this, Counterpoint analyzed that the impact of semiconductor shortages is appearing later in the smartphone industry compared to the automotive, PC, and home appliance sectors. In fact, global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of this year showed strong performance, surging 20% year-on-year and increasing 4% compared to the first quarter of 2019.

Counterpoint expects smartphone sales to slow down in the second quarter and not see a significant rebound in the second half of the year. The annual global smartphone shipment volume for this year is expected to reach 771 million units, a mere 1.3% increase from last year's 761 million units.

Samsung Electronics' smartphone sales performance is also expected to be weak in the second quarter. Samsung's smartphone shipments in the first quarter of this year were 77 million units, exceeding market expectations. However, at that time, Samsung Electronics CEO Koh Dong-jin predicted that the semiconductor shortage would have an impact in the second quarter. These concerns appear to be becoming reality.

Sanjoy Rana, Senior Analyst at CLSA, initially expected Samsung's second-quarter smartphone shipments to be about 65 million units but has recently lowered the shipment forecast by approximately 7 million units.

Manufacturers are delaying new product launches. The number of new smartphone models in the first half of this year is about 310, down 18% from 370 in the first half of last year.

As supply decreases, prices have risen sharply. According to Strategy Analytics, the quarterly price increase rate for smartphones has not exceeded 2% in recent years, but in the second quarter of this year, prices rose by 5%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.