Report: Smartphone Production Expected To Hit Record Low In Q2

A revised forecast of smartphone production predicts volume will shrink to a record low in the second quarter as the spread of the coronavirus continues to hurt sales, according to a press release.

TrendForce, a provider of technology market intelligence, reported global production of cellphones for the period from April through June is expected to drop to 287 million units, or 16.5 percent lower than the same period last year. If on target, it would signal the largest quarterly decline on record.

The Taiwan-based company said its Q2 predictions come as smartphone production fell by 10 percent in the first quarter to 280 million units, the lowest in five years. TrendForce blamed the production levels on pandemic-induced disruptions across the supply chain, including plant shutdowns and material shortages.

It forecasted total yearly production volume of 1.24 billion units in 2020, an 11.3 percent year-over-year decrease.

In Q1, Vivo Communication Technology Co. Ltd., a division of BBK Electronics, a technology company that designs and manufactures smartphones and smartphone accessories in China, was the only brand among the top six showing growth.

Samsung, the first-quarter leader, was experiencing constrained growth this year even without the emergence of COVID-19, the report said. In addition to the saturation of the market, Chinese brands are exerting pressure on Samsung’s presence in the Southeast Asian and Indian markets.

The brand’s production for Q1 dropped by 10 percent to 65.3 million units. TrendForce estimated Samsung’s smartphone production for the second quarter will fall by nearly 11 percent to 58.3 million units.

Prior to the onset of the coronavirus, TrendForce had expected Apple to once again reach yearly production of 200 million units, given the company plans to release five new models in 2020 and phase out of the popular iPhone 6s series.

But Apple too was a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in the reduced production of its iPhone lineups this year, the survey said.

In Q1, iPhone production fell by nearly 8.7 percent year over year to 37.9 million units, due to labor and material shortages.