It’s not just the carriers beginning to hurt; Sony Ericsson are reporting that demand for its cellphones is slowing, with Q1 2008 predictions of 22 million handsets shipping and pre-tax net income of €150-200m ($236-315m).  That’s significantly lower than analyst expectations: Nomura’s Richard Windsor cut his full year estimate on units for the company from 120 million to 102.8 million.  He had previously expected 26.5m cellphones to ship in Q1, but now sees sales down 10-percent from Q1 2007 rather than the 9-percent growth earlier tipped.

“The economic slowdown has impacted Sony Ericsson much harder than we anticipated and this has wider ramifications” Richard Windsor, analyst, Nomura

Sony Ericsson has blamed component shortages for certain mid-range handsets, as well as a general reduction of interest in mid- to high-end phones, for the turnaround.

Some are blaming a shift from developing new, innovative cellphones to cheaper refreshes of existing model ranges for Sony Ericsson’s fall from grace.

[via SlashPhone]