iPhone XS on track after Typhoon Mangkhut barrels through China’s electronics capital

Typhoon Mangkhut, bigger than Hurricane Florence which battered North Carolina in the US, made landfall in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Sunday.

Flights were cancelled. Main roads and bridges were closed. And factories across Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and other cities ground to a halt, according to Chinese media.

The area -- known traditionally as Pearl River Delta -- is China’s leading manufacturing hub. Consisting of 9 cities, it make up just around 4% of China’s population but contributed more than 9% of the country’s GDP in 2016. Under an ambitious plan by President Xi Jinping, the region was recently rebranded as the Greater Bay Area -- with hopes of transforming into China’s very own Silicon Valley.

Dongguan, once infamous for rampant prostitution, has grown into a thriving production center for technology. Smartphone giants Oppo and Vivo are headquartered in the city, which made one-fifth of the world’s mobile phones shipped last year.