According to TrendForce’s latest report on this year’s smartphone production, the total volume for 3Q18 grew by 8% from 2Q18 to around 380 million. The growth was attributed to a gradual recovery of demand in 2Q18 and the stock-up of inventories related to releases of new devices and holiday sales events. Although the latest products from Apple and Huawei continue to generate demand in the smartphone market, the sales of new iPhone XR/XS/XS Max turned out to fall short of expectation, resulting in lower shipments of iPhones. Therefore, DRAMeXchange estimates that the total production volume for 4Q18 will be roughly similar to that of 3Q18, coming to around 380 million units.
TrendForce has published a new report profiling the latest trends in the global smart speaker market. According to data in the report, the global shipments of smart speakers are expected to reach 62.25 million units in 2018. Driven by the expansion of Google Home into more regions and the growth of smart speaker market in China, the shipments would increase further by 53% YoY, reaching 95.25 million units in 2019. With the strongest growth momentum among all categories of consumer electronics, smart speakers have emerged as a major application of voice interactions and are fast becoming the gateway to other smart-home products as well as the vast ecosystems. Companies including Apple, Facebook, Baidu, and Tencent have all entered the market this year, in addition to first movers.
In this release, TrendForce provides predictions of the information and communication technology industry for 2019, focusing on 10 key themes. Some of these themes continue from last year but will show significant evolution in the upcoming year.
As Apple unveils its new iPhone models, TrendForce has provided the following comments for your reference.
The global smartphone market has been growing in 2Q18 driven by the launch of new models by Chinese smartphone brands and the brands’ strong sales in overseas markets, according to TrendForce. As the result, the production volume of smartphone grew by 3% QoQ, reaching 352 million units in 2Q18, and is expected to grow by another 6% QoQ to reach 373 million units in 3Q18 driven by the holiday sales in the peak season.
