Mobile Phone Production in China to Account for More than Half of Worldwide Shipments in 2007

(Business News & Technology News, 21 Dec 2007)

Total shipment volume of the Chinese mobile phone industry is expected to increase 6.9 percent sequentially to 179.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Taipei-based Market Intelligence Center. For the full year 2007, shipment volume is expected to reach 636 million units, up 24 percent over 2006. Shipment volume excluding PAS (Personal Access Phone System) products is forecast to reach 624.9 million units, up 25.9 percent over 2006. Furthermore, the Chinese industry's share of worldwide mobile phone shipment is expected to reach 50.7 percent in 2007, compared with 48.1 percent in 2006, consolidating its status as the leading country in the worldwide mobile phone industry.

The Chinese mobile phone industry's shipment volume in the third quarter of 2007 amounted to 167.9 million units, up 11.5% sequentially and 23.6% year-on-year. Third-quarter shipment volume excluding PAS totaled 165.3 million units. As total worldwide mobile phone shipment volume reached 320 million units in the third quarter, the Chinese industry accounted for 51.7 percent of global shipments.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) models are still the mainstream product in the Chinese industry. However, makers such as Calcomp, Haier, Hisense, Huawei, and ZTE have become important suppliers of value-line CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) phones, and shipment of these products to Africa, India, and Central Asian countries is very strong.

Meanwhile, combined shipment volume of Taiwanese manufacturers increased 41 percent sequentially to 29.9 million units, accounting for 17.8 percent of the Chinese industry. This ended a period of two consecutive quarters during which this share declined.

The high growth of Taiwanese makers' shipment in the third quarter was mainly attributed to Foxconn/CMCS, Calcomp, and Arima. Foxconn/CMCS's growth came from continued outsourcing orders from Nokia and Motorola.

Combined shipment volume of Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and LG in the third quarter reached 87.4 million units in the third quarter, up 7.3 percent over the previous quarter. However, their combined share of the Chinese industry's shipment fell to 52 percent, down from 54.1 percent, due to the strong performance of Taiwanese makers.

Among the five leading brands, Sony Ericsson and LG enjoyed the highest growth, with 16 percent and 18.5 percent respectively. These two makers continued to expand their production scale in China. Growth rates of Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung were limited to single digits in the third quarter, with 7.8 percent, 2.5 percent, and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Regarding Chinese makers, ZTE not only consolidated its status as the largest Chinese mobile phone manufacturer, it also became the first Chinese maker to have a quarterly shipment of more than four million, with third-quarter shipment reaching 4.1 million units. Furthermore, Huawei, TCL, Bird, and Tianyu all had shipment volumes exceeding three million units in the third quarter.

Among the top 20 manufacturers in the Chinese mobile phone industry, Chinese makers account for 10 of them. Combined shipment volume of these 10 makers grew from 23.5 million units in second quarter to 26.6 million units in the third quarter of 2007.

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