The COVID-19 epidemic obliged the likes of Apple Inc. and Xiaomi to close their stores in China thereby jamming countrywide supply. Counterpoint Research states a 22% smartphone sales collapse in China in the course of the first quarter.
However, Huawei Technologies Co. did manage to survive. It claims a 6% growth selling 28.7 million phones in the first three months surpassing the number two brand Vivo and number three brand Oppo combined, whilst Xiaomi saw a 35% collapse in its unit sales.
Similarly, Apple reportedly saw a 1% dip in sales as for the sell-through volume via consumers. The figure is actually close to the units but doesn’t depend upon shipping or production.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought disappointment and anxiety to the global smartphone market and the tech industry supplying mobile phone components including memory chips, displays, processors, and so on. Samsung Electronics Co., on Wednesday, informed a profit downfall this quarter and a rise in depression for mobile phones.
On the other hand, the domestic outlook stays ambiguous. The likes of Apple and Xiaomi with a large retail network started to reopen their stores in February and March while consumer spending remains volatile as of the economic contraction in the history of China. Counterpoint reports nearly half of the total smartphone sales coming from online marketplaces including JD.com and Alibaba during the first quarter. Interestingly, 5G smartphone sales skyrocketed by a double during the period.
