The Global Smartphone Industry: A New Era of Competition and Major Players’ Strategies
With smartphone penetration in mature markets is pushing past 60%, emerging markets will become increasingly significant. In the emerging markets, smartphone makers, such as Samsung, need to compete with other rivals for a low ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) user base with low-priced products and sustaining profitability with an profit margin around 17%-18%, which will be a huge challenge for Samsung. As the global market for smartphones experiences hurdles curtailing growth, a shortage of 28nm chips and deferred shipments due to patent infringement issues are just a few impediments that have contributed to the downturn of Taiwan-based smartphone vendor HTC.
Global Information Inc (GII) highlights three market research reports following the global market for smartphones. In these reports, premium market research publisher Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute examines major strategies, provides insight into the future shape of the market, and tracks leading smartphone brands.
The Global Smartphone Industry: A New Era of Competition and Major Players’ Strategies
Samsung, which led the market leadership in the first quarter of 2012, continued to see its market share grow to 23% in the second quarter of 2012. Of the total mobile phone shipped by Samsung, 50.50 million units were Smartphones. Samsung is among one of few branded vendors that were able to enjoy shipment growth in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. In order to prevent a loss in market share following the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, Samsung launched the Galaxy Note II featuring a 5.5-inch AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) panel on August 29, 2012.
In the second quarter of 2012, the iPhone shipment volume did not live up to market expectations, mainly due to users’ deferred purchase in anticipation of the unveiling of iPhone 5. On September 13, Apple officially launched the iPhone 5 with features including a 4-inch Retina display screen using in-cell touchscreen technology and HD front-facing camera as rumored. However, as the iPhone 5 was launched in mid-September, the positive effect of iPhone 5 launch on the total iPhone shipment is expected to be limited in the third quarter of 2012 during which the total iPhone shipment is expected to still witness a sequential decline.
This report profiles the development of the global market for smartphones in 2012, examines strategies of five major groups in the industry and provides an insight into the future outlook of the industry while pointing out feasible product strategies to be put in place by other Smartphone brands, aside from Apple and Samsung, in order to seize a larger piece of the market-pie.
The Taiwanese Smartphone Application IC Market, 3Q 2012
This report provides market size and value forecast and the third quarter review of the Taiwanese Smartphone baseband, transceiver, power amplifier, application processor, GPS IC, Bluetooth IC, and Wi-Fi IC markets. The report includes information for baseband, transceiver, power amplifier, application processor, GPS IC, Bluetooth IC, and Wi-Fi IC market volume, value, ASP, and market share by solution provider.
The Taiwanese Mobile Phone Industry, 3Q 2012
Taiwanese Smartphone branded vendor HTC witnessed revenue declines in the first half of 2012, partly due to the shortage of 28nm chips and the two-week deferred shipment to the United States resulting from patent infringement issues. But, on top of the pile of reasons behind the HTC downturn is that the company starts losing its edge, such that, without production scale like Apple and Samsung, the company is likely to have trouble lowering production costs and ensuring a stable supply of key components.
According to the report, the overall shipment volumes for the Taiwanese mobile phone industry saw sequential declines in the second quarter of 2012 due to reduced orders for feature phones and Smartphones. Nevertheless, the industry’s shipment volume and value are expected to bounce back in the third quarter of 2012 and hit a new high in the fourth quarter of 2012. Nevertheless, the industry’s shipment volume and value are expected to bounce back in the third quarter of 2012 and hit a new high in the fourth quarter of 2012.
This report presents forecast and recent quarter review of mobile phone shipment volume, shipment value, and APS, and analyzes manufacturer volume rankings, shipment by maker, and price trends. Also provided are shipment breakdowns by system technology, operating systems, display, embedded Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS, and examines production locations, shipment destinations, and customer portfolios.