Apple generated 22% of Q4 global smartphone shipments on strong iPhone 13 demand; Samsung followed at 20%, said a preliminary Canalys report Tuesday. Supply chain problems and COVID-19 limited overall shipment growth to 1%. Apple had “unprecedented” iPhone sales in mainland China on “aggressive pricing,” said the research firm. Though Apple’s supply chain is “starting to recover,” it was forced to cut production in Q4 due to shortages of key components, but supply chain disruptions affected low-end vendors the most, said analyst Nicole Peng. “Component manufacturers are eking out additional production, but it will take years for major foundries to significantly increase chip capacity.” Smartphone brands are responding by tweaking device specifications in response to available materials, approaching emerging chipmakers to secure new sources for ICs, focusing product lines on best-selling models and staggering new product releases, she said: Bottlenecks won't ease until the second half.
Apple generated 22% of Q4 global smartphone shipments on strong iPhone 13 demand; Samsung followed at 20%, said a preliminary Canalys report Tuesday. Supply chain problems and COVID-19 limited overall shipment growth to 1%. Apple had “unprecedented” iPhone sales in mainland China on “aggressive pricing,” said the research firm. Though Apple’s supply chain is “starting to recover,” it was forced to cut production in Q4 due to shortages of key components, but supply chain disruptions affected low-end vendors the most, said analyst Nicole Peng. “Component manufacturers are eking out additional production, but it will take years for major foundries to significantly increase chip capacity.” Smartphone brands are responding by tweaking device specifications in response to available materials, approaching emerging chipmakers to secure new sources for ICs, focusing product lines on best-selling models and staggering new product releases, she said: Bottlenecks won't ease until the second half.
Judging from Tuesday’s nearly 13% decline in Sony’s stock price after Microsoft announced its $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard buy, “the market appears to have come to the conclusion that the deal announcement destroyed roughly as much value at Sony as it created at Microsoft-Activision,” said a Cowen investor note Wednesday. “The market is saying that Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard would reduce the value of Sony's PlayStation business by about 60%,” it said. “We think that Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard would be a significant negative for Sony, given the likely eventual loss of access to new releases in the Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Diablo franchises. On the other hand, we really don't think it would be negative to the tune of cutting the value of their PlayStation business by more than half.” The preliminary signals Microsoft put out for public consumption Tuesday suggested Sony would experience no disruption in its access to Activision content support for the PS5 (see 2201180009). Sony shares fell another 5% Wednesday, closing at $110.04.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the Jan. 19 Federal Register on the following AD/CV injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
Summit Wireless Q4 sales of about $2 million brought full-year totals to more than $6.5 million, up 170% from 2020, said the company in a preliminary report Tuesday. The company’s spatial audio technology and the WiSA Wave program are driving growth, said CEO Brett Moyer. In 2022, management expects to continue to build the brand by expanding the WiSA Wave effort to Europe and China, increasing website visitors to 3 million-5 million and launching more products. Summit is due to report Q4 results next month. Shares reached a 52-week low Tuesday at $1.16 before closing down 4.5% at $1.28.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Jan. 18-19 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The Commerce Department reasonably hit countervailing duty respondent Uttam Galva Steels Limited with adverse facts available over its failure to reveal its affiliation with a cross-owned producer of the subject merchandise, Lloyds Steel Industries Limited, the Department of Justice told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Jan. 14 reply brief. Since Uttam Galva only admitted to affiliation with LSIL after prodding from Commerce, the respondent failed to have cooperated to the best of its ability, justifying the use of AFA, DOJ said (Uttam Galva Steels Limited v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2119).
One of the looming questions Tuesday from Microsoft's announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard was what would become of Sony's access to Activision Blizzard's third-party content support for the PlayStation 5 after the game publisher comes under the control of the owner of the rival Xbox platform. The preliminary signals Microsoft put out for public consumption suggested Sony would experience business as usual.
The Commerce Department issued the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on steel nails from South Korea (A-580-874). These final results will be used to set final assessments of AD duties on importers of subject merchandise entered July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020.
The Commerce Department issued the final results of its countervailing duty administrative review on corrosion resistant steel from South Korea (C-580-879). These final results will be used to set final assessments of CV duties on importers for subject merchandise entered Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2019.