The 4.7-inch iPhone 7 was the best-selling smartphone in Taiwan following its global launch last month, industry insiders said.
The new iPhone attracted consumers not only because of its novelty, but also because many consumers in the market for a high-end mobile phone turned away from Samsung Electronics Co’s Galaxy Note 7, which the company eventually stopped selling following a series of battery explosions and fires.
The iPhone 7 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus have been on sale in Taiwan since Sept. 16.
It was the first time Apple Inc included Taiwan in the first group of nations in which a new iPhone series went on sale.
The sources said the 128 gigabyte (GB) iPhone 7 was the best-selling smartphone by number of units last month, followed by the iPhone 7 Plus, this year’s version of Samsung’s Galaxy J7, Taiwan-based PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc’s (華碩) ZenFone 3 ZE552KL and the 32GB iPhone 7.
Asustek is one of several Taiwanese PC brands hoping to gain a foothold in the smartphone market to limit the negative impact of a slowdown in the global PC market.
Its ZenFone series targets the mid-range market.
Asustek’s ZenFone3 ZE520KL came in sixth ahead of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp’s (宏達電) HTC Desire 728 dual-sim, Japan-based Sony Corp’s Xperia XA, telecom service provider Taiwan Mobile Co’s (台灣大) Amazing X3s and the ZenFone 2 Laser ZE550KL.
The Galaxy Note 7 was the best-selling handset in Taiwan in August, when it was launched worldwide.
Due to the warm reception of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple had the highest share of smartphone revenue in Taiwan last month at 61.6 percent, followed by Samsung, Asustek, HTC and Sony, the sources said.
In terms of sales volume, Apple also gained the No. 1 spot by taking a 29 percent share of the Taiwan market last month, ahead of Samsung, Asustek, HTC and Sony, the sources added.
This month, 684,000 smartphones have been sold in Taiwan, representing an increase of about 20,000 units from last month, the sources said.
It was the third consecutive month unit sales in Taiwan posted month-on-month growth, the sources added.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his