As the coronavirus outbreak crippled demand in the world's largest smartphone market, officials confirmed on Monday that Apple sold fewer than half a million smartphones in China in February.
China positioned curbs on travel and asked citizens to avoid public locations last January --- ahead of the Lunar New Year festival, a major gift-giving holiday. Those regulations stayed in most places through most of February.
Mobile phones shipped a total of 6.34 million gadgets in February, information from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed (CAICT) revealed.
The data noted a 54.7% drop from 14 million sales in the same month last year, The sales also reached the bottom level for February since 2012, while CAICT started publishing facts.
Android phone market declined, too
Android brands, which include devices made through Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi, accounted for most of the drop. The shipments declined from 12.72 million gadgets in February 2019 to 5.85 million, the statistics showed.
Shipments of Apple gadgets slumped to 494,000, from 1.27 million in February 2019. In January, its purchases had held consistent at merely over 2 million.
Research companies IDC and Canalys previously forecasted that overall smartphone shipments could drop by 40 percent in the first quarter due to the virus outbreak.
Apple's current Chinese problems
Apple's branded shops in China had been close for the last weeks in February as fears over the coronavirus outbreak mounted. The tech giant had also predicted the drop.
In February, Apple pulled its quarterly profits projections after coronavirus disrupted the company's manufacturing, supply chain, and retail. The California-based multinational technology company said in a statement said its quarterly guidance and estimates on the pace of return to work refected the best information available it had.
Apple's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook wrote a letter to investors that month warning the company could not meet its initial sales guidance for the current quarter due to demand issues.
Back to work despite the outbreak
Earlier this month, information surfaced that Apple producer and dealer Foxconn operated again in China. The manufacturing sector would be back to normal by the near of March after the coronavirus outbreak.
Over 50% of its sidelined seasonal workers are now working once more after the Taiwanese agency stated in the past that it couldn't anticipate the coronavirus' effect on revenue. Chairman Liu Young-Way said during an internet investor conference, "Prevention of the outbreak, resumption of labor and manufacturing are our peak priority."
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A report published today suggests that the move could impact on the date that Apple can launch its eagerly anticipated 5G iPhones later this year.
The relatively contagious, flu-like virus that began in China in December 2019 made its way to more than 70 nations and infected more than 90,000 people. More than 3,000 people have died, most in China, according to reports.
