Semiconductor shortage Archives - Gizmochina

OPPO, realme, and vivo record triple digit YoY growth in Europe, defying chip shortage

Zohaib Ahmed — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 09:43:08 +0000

Europe’s smartphone market has mostly recovered from the effects of the pandemic but is held back from the chip shortage now. Q3 2021 phone sales were thus overall 1% lower compared to the same period last year.

Image: Counterpoint Research

Not every brand was equally affected though. It’s the Chinese smartphone brands, particularly the subsidiaries of BBK Electronics, that have outshone the rest (via Counterpoint Research). vivo, realme, and OPPO have each recorded triple-digit growth in Q3 2021 vs Q3 2020 with figures of 238%, 160%, and 112% respectively in Europe. These three have also gained in terms of market share with OPPO jumping from 4.7% to 10.1%, realme from 0.9% to 2.4%, and vivo from 0.5% to 1.8%. OPPO has gained hugely with the merger with OnePlus.

OnePlus 9RT arrived with ColorOS following OPPO merger

However, the market share of these three is rather tiny in the continent, which explains the triple-digit figures. The big players have continued to be Samsung, Xiaomi, and Apple. Although, Samsung’s market share has declined from 35.8% to 30.4%. Xiaomi and Apple on the other hand recorded 51% and 24% growth respectively.

Counterpoint Research Associate Director Jan Stryjak said, “realme is one of the fastest growing brands in Europe and has firmly established itself as a top-five vendor with strong sales in Russia, Spain, and Italy. vivo is also growing fast, albeit from a smaller base, while Motorola and Nokia are staging a comeback. HONOR also has set sights on the European market in the hopes of a reversal of fortunes with its first major launch in the region in over a year in October.”

But when it comes to QoQ figures for growth in terms of sales, Xiaomi and Samsung have suffered declines of 6% each. Samsung could have been hit even worse had it not been for the success of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 particularly in Western Europe. Apple has seen a respectable 5% growth, on the other hand, boosted by the launch of the iPhone 13 towards the end of the quarter.

Image: Counterpoint Research

Xiaomi and Apple had a mixed quarter at the end of the quarter. Xiaomi suffered a major setback in September 2021 as a result of significant component constraints. Apple’s iPhone 13 launch was a huge success. Despite going on sale at the end of September, the iPhone 13 seemed to be more popular than the iPhone 12 from the previous year. Apple could have a record-breaking Q4 in Europe if it can keep up with demand – a difficulty in some markets.

Semiconductor shortage leads to 6% shrink in global smartphone market

Zohaib Ahmed — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 11:56:04 +0000

The global smartphone market is reeling under the weight of the semiconductor shortage as vendors struggle to meet demand. Samsung was the leading vendor with a 23% share. Xiaomi lost the 2nd place it had gained earlier this year after Apple grabbed it thanks to strong demand for the iPhone 13.

As a result, the Chinese smartphone giant currently stands at 3rd with a market share of 14%. The 4th and 5th rankings are currently held by vivo and OPPO currently, both with a 10% share each (via: Canalys).

Ben Stanton, Canalys Principal Analyst remarks that the chipset famine has truly arrived: “The smartphone industry is striving to maximize production of devices as best it can. On the supply side, chipset manufacturers are increasing prices to disincentivize over-ordering, in an attempt to close the gap between demand and supply.”

However, the chip shortage will likely be continuing well into 2022 despite the measures. This, combined with high global freight costs, will be pushing the device retail pricing even higher.

Along with this, the chip shortage is also prompting last-minute changes with regard to device specification and order quantities from the smartphone vendor end. This is critical for them since they have to select from the existing pool of available components.

Unfortunately though, it leads to confusion and inefficiency when communicating with retail and distributor channels, continued Stanton. Many channels are nervous heading into important sales holidays, such as Singles’ Day in China, and Black Friday in the west.

Smartphone channel supplies are already low, and as more customers anticipate similar sales cycles, the oncoming surge of demand will be impossible to meet. Customers might expect less aggressive smartphone discounts this year. Smartphone firms with tight margins, on the other hand, should consider bundling other devices, such as wearables and IoT, to provide strong incentives for customers.

Lenovo leads as PC shipments grew 5% in Q3 2021 despite semiconductor shortage

Zohaib Ahmed — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 14:04:03 +0000

Global PC sales oversaw a 5 percent growth in shipments during the July-September period (Q3) in 2021, which is a major drop following five quarters of double-digit growth, thanks to the crippling semiconductor shortage.

As per a market research by Canalys (via: Gadgets 360), Lenovo enjoyed the highest share of the global PC shipments with HP following closely. Next in line were Dell, Apple, and Acer, in order, completing the top 5 rankings.

Image: Canlys Market Pulse

Total shipments of desktops and notebooks including workstations stood at 84.1 during Q3 2021. The numbers could have been much higher owing to unusually high demand had the supply not been bottlenecked by supply chain disruptions.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the PC sector has witnessed a 9 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), and the deficit in the supply of PCs is likely to extend well into 2022. Canalys reports that manufacturers will not be able to meet the spike in demand with the upcoming holidays.

As per figures, notebook and mobile workstation sales grew 3 percent YoY to hit 67.4 million units, while desktops recorded an even higher growth rate of 12 percent with sales over 16.6 million units. The surge in demand can be explained by the COVID-19 lockdowns that have promoted remote work.

Source: Canalys

However, it is Lenovo that has outshined competition and has been the largest contributor to PC shipments in Q3 2021, selling over 19.77 units for a modest increase of 2.5% year-on-year. The Chinese company’s market share stood at 20.9% during the same period.

Closely following is HP clocking a 20.9% market share despite a 5.7% annual decline compared to last year’s figures. Units sold stood at 17.597 million.

Third in line is Dell with 15.18 million shipments. However, the company actually tops the list when it comes to annual growth, bagging an impressive 26.7% figure.

Finally, in the top 5, Apple and Acer both had annual growth rates of 14.4% and 5.7 percent, respectively. The former had a 9.3% market share with 7,824 units shipped, while the latter had a 7.2 percent market share with 6,076 units sent.