Global smartphone sales declined 7 percent in the third quarter, year-on-year, with Chinese vendors facing “tremendous pressure.”
And two of Apple’s key suppliers have cut their earnings for the coming months, raising concerns among investors about sales of new iPhones.
The drop in sales was “the worst third quarter performance since 2015,” according to researcher Canalys.
Chinese smartphone generated sales of 100.6 million units, a 15.2 percent decline from a year ago.
“China’s market showed no improvement. This has continued to put tremendous pressure on vendors amid rising component and labor costs in China,” said Jia Mo, Canalys’ Shanghai analyst.
Apple shares declined more than 5 percent on Monday U.S. time.
Japan Display, the screen supplier of iPhones, and Lumentum, which makes facial-recognition components for iPhones, both lowered their earnings forecast recently, which raised concerns about Apple’s iPhone sales, according to the Wall Street Journal.
To hedge against their business at home, Chinese vendors are more focused than ever on overseas expansion in South Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe.
