According to TrendForce, the multiplicative effect of the traditional off-season further weakened smartphone production performance in 1Q22 with global output only reaching 310 million units, a 12.8% decline QoQ. Compared with the same period last year, the strategic planning adopted by smartphone brands in response to Huawei's market share collapse is quite different, with annual decline in production as high as 10.1%. Looking to 2Q22, in the face of rising inflation intensified by the Russian-Ukrainian war and the direct impact of China's lockdowns, the momentum of consumption continue to weaken. According to TrendForce's current observations, global smart phone production volume in 2Q22 is forecast at approximately 309 million units, which is roughly on par with 1Q22 but the lingering possibility of a subsequent downgrade this quarter cannot be ruled out.
According to TrendForce research, North American data centers saw an improvement in components supply after February, driving a recovery in purchase order volume. As Server brands returned to normal in-office work following the pandemic, the increase in capital expenditures on related information equipment has also boosted order growth. The addition of Kioxia’s raw material contamination incident led to an increase in the pricing of certain rush orders, pushing up overall Enterprise SSD revenue in 1Q22 to US$5.58 billion, or 14.1% growth QoQ.
According to TrendForce research, as manufacturers actively shifted production capacity to 128 layer products, the market turned to oversupply, resulting in a drop in contract prices in 1Q22, among which the decline in consumer-grade products was more pronounced. Although enterprise SSD purchase order volume has grown, demand for smart phone bits has weakened due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the traditional off-season, and rising inflation. Client inventories have increased significantly, so it remains challenging for overall bit shipment volume to offset potential decline. In 1Q22, NAND Flash bit shipments and average selling prices fell by 0.5% and 2.3%, respectively, resulting in a 3.0% quarterly decrease in overall industry revenue to US$17.92 billion.
According to TrendForce research, smartphone camera module shipments will increase to 5.02 billion units in 2022, an annual growth rate of 5%. Since the price-performance ratio of whole devices is the primary basis for consumer purchases, the cost of high-standard solutions such as the five-camera design and main cameras sporting hundreds of millions of pixels will inevitably be passed on to the manufacturer with little improvement in sales performance. Therefore, the three-camera module remains the mainstream design this year and is forecast to account for more than 40% of total shipments. Only some smartphone models will adopt a four-camera design to differentiate their specifications, while the number of products with dual-cameras or less will fall, with entry-level models being the primary candidates.
According to TrendForce research, due to China's lockdowns and inventory adjustments by notebook brands, April notebook panel shipments totaled 17.5 million units, down 21.5% YoY, and a new low for shipments since April 2020 and the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, shipments of notebook panels in 2Q22 is estimated at 55.1 million units, down 21.2% QoQ and 19% YoY.