The 30,000 MWC visitors who have attended the event’s hybrid format are far from the 100,000 who filled the event until a couple of years ago. But not only are there fewer people in the aisles, there are fewer brands and product presentations. The reasons for the unpopularity of the event are several, but one stands out: the shortage of semiconductors.
“The sectors that consume the most semiconductors were the first to be affected,” Mathilde Aubry, professor of Economics at the EM Normandie business school in France, assured AFP, who points out that this shortage is reflected in the delay in the deployment of networks such as 5G and in the lack of new technological products, such as cell phones, tablets or wearables.
The lack of some chips has also affected logistics lines that were already planned two years ago, such as the PS5 or Xbox Series X / S consoles.
“My biggest concern was that … our exhibitors would say with one voice ‘we are not coming’, but that did not happen,” said Mats Granryd, GSMA CEO, during the opening conference, admitting that the organization suffered heavy losses. , after last year’s cancellation, since it laid off 40% of its workforce.
“This excess demand should subside in six or nine months, since we should return to a more normal activity at the level of cars, computers, etc. But it will only subside, it will not disappear”, warns Jean-Christophe Eloy, CEO of Yole Développement, a consulting firm and technological analysis.
To improve the situation, some manufacturing companies have announced investments to increase production. Intel said it will invest $ 20 billion in an Arizona plant, while TSMC will make an investment of $ 100 billion to supply more industries.
Delays in logistics, but also economic crisis
Although companies such as Telefónica, Orange, Huawei or Vodafone attended the event, other companies such as Ericsson, Samsung or Nokia decided not to attend the event, which has left the MWC without major launches.
“The industry is fighting for semiconductors and all brands will feel the rush,” said Ben Stanton, Canalys research manager. In recent months, providers redirected some allocations to other regions due to the COVID-19 outbreak in India, but this is not sustainable as the world returns to normal, he said.
Suppliers will first focus on regional prioritization, targeting unit flow to lucrative developed markets such as China, the United States and Western Europe at the expense of Latin America and Africa.
“As key components such as chipsets and memory increase in price, smartphone vendors must decide whether to absorb that cost or pass it on to consumers,” Canalys VP of Mobility Nicole Peng .
This means that many smartphones could raise their price, which reduces the existence of new equipment in emerging markets such as Mexico, which has been reflected in the equipment that has been presented in recent months, where the mid-range predominates.
In Mexico, the telecommunications industry has also suffered the consequences of COVID-19. In 2020, the sector as a whole experienced a drop of 1.1%, reaching 493.6 billion pesos, according to the consulting firm The CIU.
This decrease occurred despite the increase in demand for digital services and connectivity that allowed Mexicans, in the midst of the health contingency, to carry out their work, educational and entertainment activities.
Few ads and no ‘sexy’ products
Although the brands are having parallel events for the Barcelona fair, the reality is that they have had soulless announcements.
Samsung introduced a new user experience with One UI Watch, a new interface that is designed to make the Galaxy Watch and smartphone experience much more connected. The company also confirmed that One UI Watch will be available for Galaxy Watch on the new unified platform created with Google, providing performance improvements, a more seamless experience between the watch and Android smartphones, as well as access to an even greater number of Applications.
“Through these efforts, we will enrich our smartwatch experience and the convenience of the Galaxy ecosystem for our consumers,” said Patrick Chomet, executive vice president and leader of the Customer Experience Office for the Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics.
Other companies that have made announcements at MWC are ZTE and Huawei, but focused on the deployment of 5G. In the first case, ZTE introduced its third-generation indoor CPE MC8020 5G, adding to its extensive list of equipment available in more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Huawei, for its part, presented BladeAAU Pro, a team that integrates active and passive antennas in a single box, focused on solving connectivity in scenarios with limited space.
Although this 2021 has brought an economic reactivation throughout the world, it will be until 2022 that more technology products are seen at the events, or at least that is what the experts indicate.
