{"id":12667,"date":"2026-04-30T12:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T06:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/?p=12667"},"modified":"2026-04-30T12:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T06:59:13","slug":"qualcomm-ceo-calls-the-bottom-is-the-smartphone-market-finally-recovering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/qualcomm-ceo-calls-the-bottom-is-the-smartphone-market-finally-recovering\/","title":{"rendered":"Qualcomm CEO Calls the &#8220;Bottom&#8221;: Is the Smartphone Market Finally Recovering?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"0\">I\u2019ve been digging into the latest earnings reports, and if you\u2019re tracking the health of the tech world, Qualcomm just dropped some massive news. Despite forecasting a tough quarter ahead, their stock actually surged 15% after hours. Why? Because CEO Cristiano Amon is finally calling the &#8220;bottom&#8221; of the smartphone slump.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"1\">Here is the breakdown of why the future of your favorite gadgets is looking up.<\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"2\"><b data-path-to-node=\"2\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Smartphone Rebound<\/b><\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">I noticed that while current revenue projections ($9.2B &#8211; $10B) are actually below what analysts wanted, the leadership is incredibly upbeat about what happens next. They are seeing a recovery on the horizon for the core business that powers your Apple and Samsung devices.<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"4\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"4,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Fiscal Third Quarter<\/b>: Expected to be the final turning point for the market.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"4,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Licensing Insights<\/b>: Qualcomm\u2019s licensing beat suggests that phone makers are ramping up plans for big releases later this year.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"5\"><b data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Data Center Dominance<\/b><\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">Think of it this way: Qualcomm isn&#8217;t just a phone chip company anymore. They are aggressively breaking into the <b data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"112\">data center market<\/b>, with products set to ship before the end of the year.<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"7\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"7,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">AI Inference<\/b>: As companies shift from training AI to actually using it, Qualcomm\u2019s new CPUs and accelerators are designed to handle those heavy workloads.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"7,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Custom Chips (ASICs)<\/b>: Thanks to their $2.4 billion purchase of AlphaWave, they are now building custom chips to take on rivals like Broadcom.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"8\"><b data-path-to-node=\"8\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Reality Check<\/b><\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">To be honest, it hasn&#8217;t been an easy ride. Between surging memory chip prices and a general cooling of consumer demand, smartphone makers have been struggling.<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"10\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"10,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Price Hikes<\/b>: Rising costs for components like RAM have pushed up the final price of PCs and phones, making us all think twice before hitting &#8220;buy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"10,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">In-House Competition<\/b>: With Apple and Samsung leaning more on their own internal chips, Qualcomm is pivoting toward automotive and enterprise tech to stay ahead.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Why it matters:<\/b> Qualcomm is essentially the &#8220;barometer&#8221; for consumer tech. If they are seeing a recovery, it means we can expect a much more exciting (and hopefully more affordable) wave of smartphones and wearables hitting the shelves in late 2026.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\">I\u2019ll be keeping a close eye on their upcoming Snapdragon event in India for more concrete details. Are you holding out for a late-year upgrade, or are the current price hikes keeping you away?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been digging into the latest earnings reports, and if you\u2019re tracking the health of the tech world, Qualcomm just dropped some massive news. Despite forecasting a tough quarter ahead, their stock actually surged 15% after hours. Why? Because CEO Cristiano Amon is finally calling the &#8220;bottom&#8221; of the smartphone slump. Here is the breakdown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12669,"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12667\/revisions\/12669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardwire.news\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}