According to the latest forecast by Counterpoint Research, only 6% more smartphones will be shipped this year than last year, rather than 9% as previously predicted. In total, 1.41 billion devices will be shipped in a year. Counterpoint's previous forecast was 1.45 billion.
The industry was set to rebound this year after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the market hard in 2020. At the end of last year, smartphone makers placed large orders for components. The deferred consumer demand really supported the market in the first quarter of this year. However, already in the second quarter, manufacturers faced a shortage of components. According to analysts, only 80% of the requested volumes of key components were received, and the situation seems to only get worse in the third quarter. Some smartphone makers claim that their orders are only 70% fulfilled, which poses a lot of problems.
Semiconductor shortages hit the broader electronics market as early as the fourth quarter of 2020, but smartphone makers were able to delay the blow for a while with an additional stock of the most valuable components, including processors and camera sensors. Now stocks are running out, and semiconductor manufacturers are unable to meet the growing demand.
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