It is safe to say that smartphones sales in many markets are starting to peak, or have peaked. Considering how long it has been, we suppose this should hardly come as a surprise. In fact there are some who have predicted companies like Apple will actually see a decline in sales starting next year.Turns out that Apple might not be alone in this. According to a report from the Korea Times, it has been suggested that Samsung might also be scaling back its plans for smartphone shipments in 2016. The report cites an official from one of Samsung’s local partners who claims to have heard that Samsung could reduce shipments by as much as 12%.
This isn’t so much because Samsung is doing badly, but rather according to the official, adapting to the market. While 12% is not a particularly huge number for the average Joe, it matters especially when you consider that Samsung ships hundreds of millions of handsets. By cutting down 12%, this means that Samsung could manufacture about 420-430 million devices. It has also been suggested that Samsung could instead choose to focus more on budget handsets where demand for them is rising.
This was corroborated by research firm Bernstein Research who had previously wrote, “The mid-end A-series and low-end J-Series posted a strong shipment growth. We had doubts that Samsung had a competitive advantage in this mid- and low-end segment, but the actual volume was a surprise.”
Filed in . Read more about Samsung.