- August 14, 2020
According to IDC, global smartphone shipments were 278.4mn units in 2Q, down 16.4% YoY, lower than 11.7% decline in 1Q, reflecting weak demand due to the widespread lockdowns worldwide. We expect the recovery of smartphone market could be delayed to late 3Q or early 4Q, headwinds including: 1) some regions are undergoing the second wave of pandemic; 2) new product launch delayed, such as the new iPhone 12 will be delayed to Dec quarter. On the flip side, there are tailwinds as well: 1) the recovery of some markets, China market narrowed the shipment decline to -10.3% YoY in 2Q from -20.4% last quarter; 2) driving force of 5G, chip makers are upbeat on outlook for 5G devices shipment of 2020 and biased now toward the upper end of their forecast in 1Q (Qualcomm: 175mn to 225mn units, MediaTek: 170mn to 200mn units). Overall, we project the global smartphone shipment around 1.2bn units (down 12.5% YoY) in 2020.
