With the smartphone market reaching saturation point in most regions around the world, leading smartphone manufacturers are now reportedly cutting back on their sales projections for this year. Just last week, Chinese telecom equipment and consumer electronics major, Huawei, was reported to have lowered its smartphone shipment target from 140 million units to 120 million units for this year, after having sold 108 million devices last year to become the third-largest vendor worldwide. Having said that though, managing to hit the 120 million mark will still signify a double-digit growth this year for Huawei’s smartphone business, so its not all doom and gloom for one of China’s largest multinationals.
Meanwhile, with mid-range smartphones becoming increasingly more capable, many smartphone buyers are starting to move away from high-priced flagships to more pocket-friendly handsets that are capable of most things top-tier devices can do, but at only a fraction of the cost. That evolution of the mid-rangers may be happening over the past few years, but now that it is truly gathering momentum with devices from companies like OnePlus, Xiaomi, Asus, Motorola and others, market leader Samsung Electronics is now also believed to be taking a re-look at its earlier sales projections. According to latest reports coming out of supply chain sources in Taiwan, Samsung is believed to have informed its suppliers that it is cutting its sales target for Q3, 2016 by 10 – 20%, having originally projected sales of 28 – 30 million units of its Galaxy S7 flagships during the period.
Meanwhile, as mentioned already, Huawei, too, has reduced its shipment target for the next quarter (and for the year as a whole) amidst reports of the company failing to match its internal targets with its P9 and P9 Plus smartphones that were launched in London last April with a whole lot of fanfare. Even though sales have been impressive by all accounts, the company, it seems, was expecting more from its flagship range for this year. It remains to be seen whether the global smartphone market keeps growing or if the gravy train will finally come to a grinding halt will all the geo-political uncertainties facing some of the key global markets right now.