Handsets Sold in Taiwan Slide 10% QoQ in Q2: IDC Taiwan

Taipei, Sept. 25, 2012 (CENS)--Some 1.99 million handsets, including 570,000 feature phones and 1.42 million smartphones, were shipped in the second quarter in Taiwan's cellphone market, down about 10% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) from about 2.21 million units in the first quarter and down 0.3% year-on-year (YoY), according to IDC Taiwan.

The local branch of the international market intelligence company attributed the quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) shipment decline to seasonality. However, smartphone shipments suffered the deepest-ever QoQ decline. In the second quarter of 2011, smartphone shipments dropped only 3.1% QoQ.

Mel Yeh, senior analyst at IDC Taiwan, pointed out that sharp sales decline of Apple's iPhone led to the deeper-than-expected smartphone shipments in the second quarter (due mainly to Apple's announcement of new iPhone 5 in the third quarter), though other vendors pushed new models in the second quarter. She said that Apple greatly raised its shipments in the first quarter, but turned to focus on adjusting inventory in the second quarter, basically matching the company's business strategy before announcing new models. In addition, she added, other vendors' new products also drove demand for iPhones down.

Regarding smartphone operating system (OS), shipments of Android-based smartphones won a record market share of 92.7% since its entrance into the Taiwan market in the second quarter of 2009, compared to that Apple's iPhone's 5.2%, making Android the only OS camp enjoy market-share gain during the period. However, Yen said, Android camp would face a bigger challenge to win over-90% share after the third quarter, when Apple's new iPhone has been pushed into the market.