China’s first-quarter smartphone sales may halve because of coronavirus crisis
- The outbreak has resulted in retail shops being closed for an extended period and delayed smartphone production
China’s smartphone sales may plunge by as much as 50 per cent in the first quarter, as many retail shops have closed for an extended period and production has yet to fully resume because of the fast-spreading coronavirus, according to analysts.
The coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 900 people and roiled China’s manufacturing industry, comes as top Android handset vendors such as Huawei Technologies had hoped China’s 5G mobile network roll-out plans this year would help the world’s biggest smartphone market rebound after years of falling sales.
“Vendors’ planned product launches will be cancelled or delayed, given that large public events are not allowed in China,” research firm Canalys said in a report last week. “It will take time for vendors to change their product launch road maps in China, which is likely to dampen 5G [device] shipments.”
Canalys expects China’s smartphone shipments to halve in the first quarter from a year ago, while tech research firm IDC forecasts a 30 per cent drop.
Apple said last week that it is extending its retail store closures in China and has yet to finalise opening dates, as supplier Foxconn Technology Group, the main assembler of iPhones, struggles to fully resume production at its factories.
Taiwan-based Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, received government approval on Monday to resume production at a plant in the city of Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province, but its major plant in the southern coastal city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province remain unopened.