The outbreak of the coronavirus will drop smartphone sales 50% in 2020. But device manufacturers were hoping to raise performance this year. According to Canalys, this is due to the closure of both retail stores in China and individual production facilities.
The drop in smartphone sales will be for the first quarter of 2020
Analysts from Canalys expect a decline in smartphone sales in China in the first quarter of the year by 50%. Another research firm IDC thinks the sales will drop by 30 percent.
The reason for this is the 2019-nCoV coronavirus epidemic, the outbreak that killed 910 people in less than two months.
Along with Apple stores, many international companies closed their sales points, offices or factories temporarily in China. And one of the largest iPhone contract manufacturers, Foxconn, cannot fully restore its plants yet. Foxconn had a government approval on Monday to continue its production at the plant in Zhenghzou.Foxconn’s major plant in Shenzhen however remain closed.
These companies have given a time period for closure, but of course they can extend these periods.
This year was supposed to be good
It is worth noting that earlier, smartphone suppliers were hoping that this year would be able to restore the market, which has been falling over the past few years. The deployment of 5G networks should have helped. However, even launches of new devices will now be canceled or delayed.
Most of the companies were going to introduce their phones in the first half. Xiaomi, Oppo and Huawei are among these companies, that are also the top manufactureres of Android phones.
Producers such as LG and Sony have announced that they will not attend the mobile congress, yearly event at Barcelona, this year.
