Coronavirus effect: Global smartphone shipments see biggest fall ever

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Coronavirus effect: Global smartphone shipments see biggest fall everAmidst the slowdown, there is some positive news for Xiaomi, as it has overtaken its Chinese peer Huawei for the first time ever.

Rohit KVN

DH Web Desk

Last Updated 23 March 2020, 12:28 IST

With shutdown of many factories, smartphones shipments have drastically come down across the world (Picture credit: Pixabay)

Since the outbreak of coronavirus in China, in late 2019, it has spread far and wide across the world. Several regional governments have imposed a lockdown of affected areas to contain the spread of the disease.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several factories, which generate millions of jobs are shutdown and stock markets have crashed causing massive financial losses across the world.

In the latest development, global smartphone shipments declined by 38-percent, the biggest fall in the history mobile industry. Around 61.8 million units were shipped in February 2020, compared to 99.2 million units in the same period last year, reported market watchdog Strategy Analytics.

"The coronavirus scare has spread to Europe, North America and elsewhere, and hundreds of millions of affluent consumers are in lockdown, unable or unwilling to shop for new devices. The smartphone industry will have to work harder than ever to lift sales in the coming weeks, such as online flash sales or generous discounts on bundling with hot products like smartwatches," Yiwen Wu, Senior Analyst, Strategy Analytics said in a statement.

Amidst the global slowdown, there is some positive news for Xiaomi, as it has overtaken its Chinese peer Huawei for the first time ever.

Last month, Xiaomi shipped around 6 million units compared to 5.5 million units by Huawei.

On the other hand, Samsung continues to lead the market with 18.2 million unit shipments and the arch-rival Apple managed to secure the second position with 10.2 million units shipping out from its factories.

In a related development, Apple, in bid to protect employees and customers from getting infected with the coronavirus has closed all its retail stores across the world, the only exception is mainland China.

In the last few days, China has registered a drastic reduction in COVID-19 positive case among local citizens, but imported cases, wherein people coming from abroad seems to have increased.