Although it has yet to hit the stores, could the iPhone 5 already have a positive affect on Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS)? Both companies recently shared the results of their second quarter, which displayed a small glimpse inside the Apple supply chain.
Qualcomm got a financial boost on Wednesday, when their shares increased over five percent during after-hours trades. This was right after the company shared their report for third fiscal quarter.
The forecast for Qualcomm was not good, and it’s expected that the chip maker will have a weak term in September. The upside is that investors expect for things to get much better for Qualcomm in December.
Once fall arrives, things should improve overall for Qualcomm and other chipset makers, as it’s gearing up to be the season of the smartphone. It’s predicted that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will release iPhone 5 in October, Android will release another update for Android smartphones, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is expected to release Windows 8 for the smartphone sometime during that period. Hopefully these smartphone sales will boost Qualcomm shares even more.
The third quarter reports from Skyworks Solutions are in line with their expectations. The company reported revenues of $389 million during that quarter, a number up from nine percent year over year. It also surpassed management’s guidance of $383.o million.
It really helps Skyworks to have a strategic diversification across OEMs and chipset makers. This is a bonus for them, considering that it helps them deliver consistent results, even if the macroeconomics are a bit shaky.
Both Qualcomm and Skyworks Solutions supply chipsets and other similar technologies to mobile handset makers. The former makes various products including CDMA/WCMDA chipsets, Snapdragon, OmniTRACS, QChat, MediaFlow, Gobi, Brew, and more. The latter makes semiconductors, which are often used for radio frequency and mobile products.
The smartphone may be the end result product, but it’s all the chipmakers that make it happen. This is why the success of certain smartphones is crucial to the success of the technology engineers. But sometimes that doesn’t always guarantee a path to success. Case in point: Qualcomm has been struggling to keep up with the changing world of technology. This is not an issue with the smartphone makers, it’s more of an issue with the business practices of the company itself. It’s not hard to recognize when a company needs to reassess matters, and that may be something Qualcomm will want to consider in the near future.
