Coronavirus slashes smartphone shipments in China by nearly 40%

Smartphone shipments for January plummeted 38.9% in China compared with the same month last year. The numbers come from a new report published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China. It shows how drastic the impact of the coronavirus outbreak has been on the supply and demand of smartphones in the country.

iPhone sales in China weren’t spared, either, falling 28% between December and January, according to a UBS research note reported by Bloomberg. Apple also said in an update for investors last week that its revenues will be affected because of supply shortages. Production facilities in China are “ramping up more slowly” than expected, Apple said. Factories for Foxconn, Apple’s largest manufacturer, are now slowly resuming production and are offering bonuses to staff to bring in new workers.