South Korea,APR 28
Samsung Electronics and Apple are currently navigating a tightening global memory chip supply that is simultaneously squeezing Chinese smartphone vendors and reshuffling market leadership. While the broader mobile industry faces a shipment decline, these two manufacturers are leveraging financial strength and internal supply chains to maintain growth amidst a critical shortage of low-power DRAM (LPDDR).
According to a report by The Korea Herald, global smartphone shipments fell 4.1 per cent on-year to 289.7 million units in the first quarter. This marks the first January-March decline since 2023. During this period, Samsung secured the top spot with 62.8 million shipments and a 21.7 per cent market share, followed by Apple with 61.1 million units and a 19.6 per cent share.The report highlighted that they were the only two brands among the top vendors to post year-on-year shipment growth. It attributed this divergence to a tightening supply of LPDDR, which is essential for mobile devices.
Demand for these chips is currently being driven by Nvidia, as the US chip giant requires large volumes of LPDDR-based memory for its next-generation AI and graphics processing unit platforms, such as the upcoming Vera Rubin GPU.”Apple has both financial firepower and bargaining power, allowing it to secure DRAM supply even at a premium,” the report quoted an industry source. “Samsung is also minimizing procurement disruptions through close coordination between its mobile experience division and device solutions division.”
The situation is markedly different for Chinese smartphone makers, who lost significant ground in the first quarter. Xiaomi’s shipments dropped by 8 million units compared to the previous year, while Oppo and Vivo also saw their market shares tighten.The report mentioned that these companies lack the internal manufacturing cushion of Samsung or the massive prepayment arrangements Apple utilizes to lock in components.”Chinese manufacturers have a high exposure to budget and midrange models, which makes it difficult for them to reflect higher component costs in retail prices,” the report quoted another industry source. “
