"Shipment volume growth was expected to be higher though," says Sophia Chen, industry analyst with MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute).

Shipment value of Taiwanese branded smartphone industry scored at around US$1.89 billion in the second quarter of 2014, up 39.4% sequentially but down 18% year-on-year. ASP (Average Selling Price) dipped to US$242 in the second quarter, down from US$287 in the previous quarter. Chen pointed out that this decline in ASP is mainly attributed to the reduced share of HTC's smartphones in the high-end sector.

This is proven by the fact that the share of smartphones with a price tag of US$350 and higher reduced to 31.6% in the second quarter, down from 43.7% in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the share of smartphones priced between US$200 and US$350 and priced under US$200 raised sequentially.

As for shipment volume by communications technology, share of LTE-supported smartphones reached 65% as almost all models launched by HTC this year have supported LTE and embraced the Qualcomm chipsets. Share of 3G smartphones reached around 35%, bolstered mainly by ASUS ZenFone series that adopt mainly Intel XMM6360 and 7160 chips. Coupled with the LTE variant of the ZenFone 5, the share of LTE branded smartphones is forecast to increase further in the third quarter of 2014.

Outlook for 2H 2014

Looking ahead to the third quarter of 2014, as the key component shortage of ASUS ZenFone is going to be resolved, shipment volume of ASUS ZenFone is expected to witness sequential growth. However, HTC's shipments of M8 and Desire series smartphones are expected to be more conservative and their subsequent models, namely M8 mini, E8 and B2, are unable to fill the gaps.

As a result, shipment volume of Taiwanese branded smartphones is forecast to decline further in the third quarter of 2014. In the fourth quarter, traditionally the period where international brands like Apple launch new flagship models, shipment volume of Taiwanese branded smartphones is expected to dip further in the fourth quarter in comparison to the third quarter.

It is forecast therefore that shipment volume of Taiwanese branded smartphones will top around 10.3 million units in the second half of 2014, down 17.6% compared with the first half.

Figure 1