As Sony Mobile Communication is increasing the number of its entry-level, mid-range and three-proof (water, dust, scratch) smartphone models to stimulate market demand, while also restarting its cooperation with smartphone ODMs, sources from the upstream supply chain expect their orders from Sony in the second half will have an obvious recovery; however, the ODMs' third-quarter orders are still expected to stay flat or grow slightly on quarter.
In the fourth quarter, as Compal Communication, Arima and Foxconn will all re-activate their production for Sony's new smartphone orders, their shipment volumes to Sony are expected to grow significantly.
Compared to Apple's upstream supply chain, non-Apple players' upstream suppliers are seeing rather weak orders for the third quarter and one of the reasons is believed to be Nokia's weakening sales, while consumers' waiting for smartphone brand vendors' new devices at the end of 2012 is also believed to cause weak shipments to the upstream supply chain.
In the first half of the year, Sony already launched more than 10 Android-based smartphones and is set to launch two three-proof smartphones - Xperia acro S and Xperia go as well as pushing Xperia neo L, Xperia miro, Xperia tipo and Xperia tipo dual into entry-level and mid-range markets in the third quarter with all equipped with the Android 4.0 operating system.
For 2013, Sony's smartphone shipments are expected to reach 40 million units with 25-30% of the volume are outsourced, a great increase compared to 2012 and should strongly benefit Taiwan-based ODMs and their related upstream supply chain.
Article translated by Joseph Tsai
