Handset sales in Taiwan are expected to disappoint this year reaching only 5.5 million units, according to sources at local mobile phone vendors.
Despite handset brands' keen promotions on 5G products, smartphones' high penetration rate, COVID's impact on smartphone sales and a lack of a killer application to motivate services to 5G have resulted in lackluster replacement demand in Taiwan in 2021.
Although sales in Taiwan in 2022 are expected to experience less impact from the pandemic, shipments are expected to stay weak if Taiwan's telecom carriers are unable to offer packages to match brand vendors' inexpensive 5G smartphones.
Component shortages also played a part in undermining Taiwan's handset shipments. Taiwan's handset shipments reached the peak of 2021 in October at 640,000 units thanks to the releases of Apple's iPhone 13 series, but shipments slumped in November and are expected to stay feeble in December.
Taiwan has seen an increasing rate of smartphone sales without bundling a telecom services plan. The carriers' existing plans are often deemed unattractive.
