Handset suppliers rely on Taiwan for entry-level mobiles

WHILE KOREA'S Samsung has grabbed the headlines in becoming the world's second-largest handset supplier, Taiwan's MIC is forecasting strong growth in the island's handset shipments.

The MIC(Market Intelligence Centre), predicts that shipments will reach 24.5 million units in Q3 2007 and 28.3 million units in Q4 2007. That compares to around 100 million units which Nokia shipped in the last quarter.

Those figures might have been higher save for the fact that Motorola is one of the industry's biggest clients.

The MIC reports that, "Motorola's strategy was to increase the share of the mid-range W series in order to improve its product mix. However, this strategy did not produce the expected results."

By contrast Sony Ericsson provided Taiwan's outsourcers with a welcome push.

Showing which segment is really driving the mobile phone industry, the MIC said that shipment of products priced below $50 increased to 76 per cent of all handset shipments from Taiwan.

Although the numbers are going up, the revenues are going down thanks to a reducing ASP (Average selling price).

"Handset vendors continue to rely on the Taiwanese industry for the production of value-line models, and shipment value is expected to continue falling in Q3 2007," says the MIC. µ

L'INQ
MIC