American chip maker Qualcomm has launched a depressing appraisal of the smartphone enterprise in 2022, predicting a decline in gross sales of a minimum of 10%.
The corporate, which is uniquely positioned as the important thing chip provider for a lot of the smartphone trade, addressed the topic as a part of its current earnings release.
In keeping with Qualcomm (by way of The Verge), “the uncertainty attributable to the macroeconomic atmosphere” has led it to downgrade its projected smartphone gross sales for the yr from a “mid-single-digit proportion decline, to a low double-digit proportion decline”.
One other attention-grabbing snippet of knowledge is that the trade seems to have gone from worries over shortages to a difficult glut. Because of the mix of a “speedy deterioration in demand” and “easing of provide constraints” within the trade, Qualcomm revealed that its “largest prospects” – more likely to embody Samsung and Apple – had been “drawing down on their stock”.
In different phrases, as a result of demand is down and provide points have been a minimum of partially addressed, there are actually a great deal of smartphones sat in factories and on store cabinets.
We’ve reported beforehand on recommendations that Apple had reduced its supply order for the brand new iPhone 14 line amidst disappointingly low demand. Samsung, for its half, is claimed to be trying to the emerging foldables market to assist in giving its gross sales a shot within the arm.
Google itself is claimed to be a little concerned at gross sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S vary, with prospects stated to be slipping over to the iPhone. The Android maker’s personal Pixel line is claimed to be promoting nicely, however then it’s ranging from a much lower point than each Apple and Samsung.
