Since the second half of 2020, chip shortages and price increases have become the main theme of the semiconductor industry. Due to chipsets shortage, the price is increasing. Many companies in multiple segments are suffering from a slugginess in the supply chain. We have Sony as a big example, as the company is struggling to get chips for its new PlayStation 5. NVIDIA is also suffering from small stocks of its RTX 30xx series. Now, it seems that the smartphone industry will suffer a huge impact in the coming months. According to China Business News, the smartphone market uses the largest amount of semiconductor chips. For that reason, mobile phone chips are in a “completely out of stock” state. Earlier this week, Xiaomi unveiled its highly-anticipated Redmi K40 series made of true flagships with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and 870 chipsets. Xiaomi’s major competitor in certain markets, Realme, is about to unveil its first 2020 flagship in the form of Realme GT 5G. Both companies acknowledged the fact that there is a huge shortage in the chipsets market.
Lu Weibing, President of Xiaomi China commented on the situation
During the Redmi K40 conference, Lu Weibing, President of Xiaomi China, said that “the chips are out of stock this year, it’s a huge shortage. I will not dare to promise that there will be no shortage of mobile phones this year.” According to Realme’s spokesperson “Qualcomm’s main chips and small materials are out of stock, including power supply and radiofrequency devices”.
Gizchina News of the week
Qualcomm has extended chips delivery to more than 30 weeks
According to sources in the mobile phone supply chain, Qualcomm’s full range of material delivery has been extended to more than 30 weeks. The delivery cycle of CSR Bluetooth audio chips has reached more than 33 weeks. Meanwhile, mobile phone manufacturers such as Realme, Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, vivo, and OnePlus are increasing their portfolio of smartphones. The number of products has undoubtedly increased the imbalance between chip supply and demand.
“Currently, mobile phone processors, PMIC power management chips, and MCU microprocessor chips are all out of stock.” An industry analyst in Taiwan, China said. Judging from the overall shortage in the market, it must be out of stock at least until the end of this year.
For now, at least, apparently, companies are moving on with their releases. For that reason, the chips shortage does not seem to be really affecting the market of smartphones. However, this can change in the coming months. Perhaps, for the first time, we will face a shortage in the number of smartphones coming from various brands.
