Tero Kuittinen

Asian disease epidemics can be poison for consumer electronics sales. The big SARS scare of 2003 had a major impact on Chinese handset volumes. In April of the year SARS swept the East, Chinese phone sales abruptly declined by nearly 10%, violently reversing the month-on-month sales growth of March. Back then, China was such a small part of worldwide phone sales that the spring swoon did not have much of a global impact. 10 years later, China’s role in global handset market is far greater, and the consumer reaction to a new epidemic could move the needle on worldwide shipment volumes. More →

A string of recent iPhone and Galaxy price cuts has rocked the phone markets from Europe to Brazil to India. This is the season for price cuts from Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (005930), and we see the same thing every year. But this time around, the cuts are more severe than we have ever seen before. Some pricing on Galaxy S models in Asia have dropped by nearly 50% as Samsung battles back against the insurgency of upstart brands like Micromax and Karbonn. The Galaxy S III’s price in Europe has plunged by nearly 40% from June 2012 as Samsung prepares to debut the Galaxy S4. Apple’s iPhone 4 has dipped to just $270 in Brazil. In India, Apple now offers to pay 7,000 rupees for old smartphones from consumers who trade them in towards an iPhone 4 — probably the most aggressive promotion Apple has ever launched over there. More →