Qualcomm has given the best indication yet that the smartphone market is starting to come back.
The US chip Company has revealed that revenue has improved and is forecasting revenues $9.1 billion to $9.9 billion in the fiscal first US quarter, this was well ahead what analysts had expected. The improved numbers saw their share price climb 4% higher in late trading.
Analysts claim that the latest upgrade offers a glimmer of hope that consumers are finally beginning to upgrade their phones again.
In Australia and markets like the UK and China consumers have been holding on to existing models for longer than in the past, hurting demand for Qualcomm’s chips.
Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon is working to make his company less dependent on what’s become a more competitive and slower-growing smartphone market.Stepping up a long-running effort to break into personal computer components, Qualcomm unveiled a new laptop processor designed to outperform rival products from Intel Corp. and Apple Inc. The new Snapdragon X Elite is as much as twice as fast as a similar 12-core processor from Intel, while using 68% less power, Qualcomm claims.The company expects revenue from Chinese phone makers to jump 35% in the current period from the preceding three months.
Handset shipments will decrease by a percentage in the mid-to-high single digits this year compared with 2022, “which is an improvement from what we had before,” Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala said on a conference call with analysts.
In the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 24, profit fell to $2.02 a share. Revenue declined 24% to $8.63 billion. Analysts had estimated profit of $1.92 and sales of $8.51 billion.
In the fourth quarter, handset and connected devices revenue declined in line with what Wall Street had projected, while automotive revenue exceeded predictions.
Handset related sales were down 27% to $5.46 billion.
Chips for internet-connected devices slid 31% to $1.38 billion, while automotive sales jumped 15% to $535 million.
For the current period, Qualcomm is projecting sales of $7.7 billion to $8.3 billion for its chip business. That’s ahead of the $7.8 billion average estimate.
