MIC Mobile Communications Research Team
From January to September 2013, export value of the Taiwanese smartphone industry totaled around NT$137.73 billion (US$4.65 billion; US$1=NT$29.59), down 1.6% year on year. In the third quarter of 2013 alone, the industry's export value reached around NT$45.75 billion (US$1.55 billion), up 35% year on year while declining 22.4% sequentially.
Unit: NT$ Billion
| |
1Q13
|
2Q13
|
3Q13
|
Total
|
|
Taiwanese Smartphone Export Value
|
33.05
|
58.93
|
45.75
|
137.73
|
|
YoY Growth
|
-26.2%
|
-3.8%
|
35.0%
|
-1.6%
|
|
QoQ Growth
|
-15.9%
|
78.3%
|
-22.4%
|
|
Source: MIC, November 2013
Export Analysis
Taiwanese Smartphone Shipments Decline amid Worldwide Growth
In the first three quarters of 2013, the worldwide smartphone shipments arrived at 690 million units, posting a significant growth of 41.8% year on year. Of the overall smartphones shipped around the world, Samsung took up 220 million units, up 48.9% year on year. However, HTC, the major Taiwanese smartphone branded vendor, failed to catch up with the wave of growth. The company shipped 16.0 million units in the first three quarters, down 31.0% year on year. (In contrast, the industry's relatively mild decline of 1.6% in export value was mainly attributed to two factors. First, high-end products grasped a higher export volume share. Second, orders originally placed with Chinese manufacturers were shifted back to Taiwan and therefore filled some capacity.) Affected by HTC's downturn, the industry's overall export value fell short of expectation.
Inadequate Product Portfolio and Supply Chain Management Lead to HTC's Decline
Regarding product portfolio, HTC mainly focused on the already saturated high-end market, while being less competitive in mid-range and value-line markets. In the high-end market, HTC bet on its flagship model New HTC One this year. Despite receiving many international awards, New HTC One has left little room for further improvement on specifications. Some latecomers in the past, like LG and Sony, have been rapidly catching up with or even outrun HTC as their high-end smartphones are gaining popularity and dividing up the market. In the mid-range and value line markets where HTC has spent less effort, the company's products were constantly priced higher than similar products made by Chinese branded vendors, leading to a lower degree of customer recognition in the emerging markets. For supply chain management, as HTC's quarterly shipment volume has fallen below 10 million units, it has become the secondary customers for upstream component suppliers. Consequently, when component shortage occurs, HTC often finds itself difficult in securing sufficient amount of components.
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Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english