Disclosed are a switch control circuit and method for a terminal. The circuit comprises: a dial switch (10), connected to a control circuit (12) and configured to respectively send a startup command or a shutdown command to the control circuit (12) by being switched to a startup position or a shutdown position; the control circuit (12), further connected to a master control circuit (16) and a power management circuit (14) and configured to instruct the power management circuit (14) to trigger a startup process of a terminal according to the startup command or instruct the master control circuit (16) to trigger a shutdown process of the terminal according to the shutdown command; the power management circuit (14), connected to the control circuit (12) and configured to conduct a power supply to an input circuit of a power management chip of the terminal according to the startup command so as to trigger the startup process of the terminal; and the master control circuit (16), connected to the control circuit (1
