The global smartphone market has at long last bottomed out and will grow this year, according to mobile industry linchpin Murata Manufacturing Co.
The global smartphone market will likely expand by a single-digit percentage on a unit basis both this fiscal year through March and the next, driven by low-priced smartphones in India, Southeast Asia and Africa, President Norio Nakajima said in an interview Tuesday.
A key driver will be increased adoption of 5G and demand growth in India, which overtook China this year to become the world’s most populous country, he said. The Indian market is dominated by devices running Alphabet Inc.’s Android software, though Apple Inc.’s iPhone has made inroads in recent times and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has made a point of expanding the company’s presence there.
Kyoto-based Murata is a bellwether for the smartphone industry. The world’s biggest maker of monolithic ceramic capacitors supplies an array of smartphone components used by Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Chinese manufacturers.
Despite the overall improvement in growth prospects, business confidence in China remains weak, Nakajima said. China has one of the higher rates of 5G adoption already, so Murata doesn’t expect replacement demand, he said. Apple’s new iPhone 15’s initial sales in China have fallen behind its predecessor, according to early analyses.
For the current fiscal year, Murata has said it sees operating income of ¥220 billion ($1.5 billion), down 26% from the previous fiscal year.
