FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Anglo-German chipmaker Dialog Semiconductor (DE:DLGS) issued a first-quarter revenue outlook below analysts' expectations as it signalled a continuing softening of the smartphone market.
The company, which relies heavily on deliveries of smartphone chips to Apple Inc (O:AAPL) and Samsung (LON:0593xq) Electronics Co (KS:005930), said on Tuesday that it expects first-quarter revenue of between $230 million (162 million pounds) and $245 million.
The top end of that range was below the most pessimistic analyst estimate of $250.4 million, Thomson Reuters data showed.
The average expectation was for a 13.6 percent year-on-year fall to $268.8 million, with individual estimates ranging between $250.4 million and $326 million.
Dialog attributed the lower than expected outlook to a slower smartphone market as well as cyclical seasonal sales patterns.
Shares in the company were down 6.5 percent in early trade, compared with a 1.2 percent decline for the European technology index (SX8P).
Dialog in January has already issued guidance for a single-digit rise in full-year revenue for 2016, citing an expected recovery in the second half of the year.