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Qualcomm's smartphone chip sales miss estimates, shares fall

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In short

Fourth-quarter handset revenue dropped 26 percent to $5.14 billion, missing analyst expectations despite total adjusted sales reaching $10.44 billion and adjusted earnings per share hitting $2.17. Rising consumer hardware costs and waning orders from Apple contributed to the contraction, though CEO Cristiano Amon noted sequential gains in Android sales. To offset the eventual loss of Apple business, Qualcomm is pivoting toward new partnerships across enterprise computing and telecommunications infrastructure. The company intends to generate $15 billion in annual data-center revenue by fiscal 2029 following a major multi-billion-dollar supply deal with Amazon.

Key points

  • The company is preparing for the total loss of Apple revenue by its first-quarter fiscal…: The company is preparing for the total loss of Apple revenue by its first-quarter fiscal 2027 forecast period.
  • High memory chip prices driven by AI server storage demands are driving up consumer elect…: High memory chip prices driven by AI server storage demands are driving up consumer electronics costs and squeezing margins.
  • Qualcomm aims to generate $15 billion in annual data-center revenue by fiscal 2029 throug…: Qualcomm aims to generate $15 billion in annual data-center revenue by fiscal 2029 through major pacts like its Amazon agreement.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Nov 4 : Qualcomm on Wednesday fell short of Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue from its smartphone chips on sluggish demand and declining Apple-related revenue, sending its shares down more than 4 per cent in extended trading.

Demand for lucrative high-bandwidth storage for AI servers has pushed up memory chip prices, raising the cost of consumer electronics and squeezing smartphone processor designers such as Qualcomm.

Global smartphone shipments fell 20 per cent in the September quarter to a 14-year low, according to Counterpoint Research.

Revenue from Qualcomm's handset unit, which makes chips for smartphones, fell 26 per cent to $5.14 billion in the fourth quarter, dragging the chip segment's revenue down 8 per cent to $9.02 billion.

Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected handset revenue of $5.25 billion.

In an interview with Reuters, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said sales of Android handsets are ticking upward again.

"Unlike some other companies, we called this memory thing early, and we said we prepared for it," Amon said. "We're starting to see sequential growth now on Android, we have been really executing…

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