Electronics

The smartphone market is ushering in a cold winter. According to data from the Academy of Information and Communications Technology, from January to April this year, the total shipments of mobile phones in the domestic market totaled 87.425 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 30.3%. In addition, according to the latest IDC report, smartphone shipments will drop to 1.31 billion units in 2022, down 3.5% year-on-year. As the sales of mobile phones continued to decline, a supply chain "slashing orders" struck.

Smartphone shipments plummeted

It is worth noting that IDC previously predicted that global smartphone shipments will grow by 1.6% in 2022. But with global smartphone supply and demand declining for three consecutive quarters and facing growing challenges, IDC has adjusted its previous forecast, expecting global smartphone shipments to drop by 3.5% in 2022 to 13.1% billion.

In addition, TrendForce, another market research agency, stated in a research report on June 1 that due to the multiplication effect of the traditional off-season, the production performance of smartphones in the first quarter of 2022 will be even weaker, and the global output will only reach 310 million units. A decrease of 12.8% from the previous quarter.

From a domestic perspective, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that in April 2022, mobile phone shipments in the domestic market were 18.079 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 34.2%. From January to April, the total mobile phone shipments in the domestic market totaled 87.425 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 30.3%. From the specific data point of view, Apple dropped 3.5% year-on-year in April and 2.2% month-on-month; OPPO dropped 42.7% year-on-year and 15.2% month-on-month; Xiaomi dropped 32% year-on-year and 5.1% month-on-month; vivo It was down 39% year-on-year and 19.9% month-on-month. Among them, only Honor has a positive growth of 127% year-on-year, but it is also down from a month-on-month perspective, down 15.4% month-on-month.

A variety of factors have led to a decline in mobile phone sales

There are a number of reasons for the weakness in the smartphone market this year, including inflation and global geopolitical tensions. However, the increase in COVID-19 cases is sure to have a major impact on the market. Due to these lockdowns and global uncertainty, both demand and supply have been reduced.

Hu Boshan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of vivo, said that there are two reasons for the decline of the global smartphone market. One is the decline of the Chinese market. The mobile phone market has completely entered the stock market. If there is no good product innovation to attract consumers, consumers will change their phones. The cycle will get longer and longer. The second reason is the impact of objective factors such as the epidemic. The epidemic not only affects the normal operation of offline stores of enterprises and the normal distribution of online sales channels, but also affects the economic income of consumers, which in turn affects people's consumer demand for mobile phones.

In addition, some new situations in the mobile phone industry this year are also an important reason for the malaise of the entire industry. Due to production capacity and supply issues, MediaTek's flagship chips in the first quarter still had the problem of delayed delivery and insufficient supply. This not only disrupted the production and launch rhythm of some manufacturers' new products in the first quarter, but also directly led to the delay in the release of some flagship new products, resulting in a period of product window period after the Spring Festival holiday. Overall sales in the mobile phone market had an impact.

The industry chain "chopping tide" strikes

As the demand in the terminal market continues to decline, a supply chain "slashing orders" strikes.

Shipments of components such as SoCs, image sensors, and panels have already "shrinked" in the first quarter. According to CINNO data, the smartphone SoC shipments in the Chinese mainland market in the first quarter were about 74.39 million, down 14.4% year-on-year. According to Sigmaintell's data, in the first quarter, global mobile phone image sensor shipments fell by about 27% year-on-year, and global smartphone panel shipments fell by about 12.5% year-on-year.

The rapid transmission of the downward trend in terminal sales has also caused suppliers of mobile phone chips to experience the most "cold" spring in recent years. Tianfeng Securities analysts said a few days ago that the Android mobile phone market in mainland China will continue to decline, and 270 million orders have been cut this year. According to estimates, the estimated shipments of Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Transsion, and Honor this year are about 160 million, 160 million, 115 million, 70 million, and 55 million, respectively. In addition, Samsung's shipment target for this year has also been lowered by about 10% to 275 million units.