With the recent outbreak of coronavirus, Chinese smartphone giants will be facing drops in sales throughout the first quarter of 2020. A new report from Counterpoint Research now predicts that Huawei would be the most affected brand since it accounts for over 60% of smartphone sales in the country.
The research firm anticipates over 50 percent year-over-year decline in smartphone sales this quarter, especially in the offline segment. Counterpoint expects over 20% drop in the overall smartphone sales during the time period. It continues to add, “OPPO and Vivo will also be impacted because of their greater reliance on offline sales channels. The influence on sales of Xiaomi, OnePlus and Realme will likely be less severe as they are more online-centric and overseas-focused.”
In case you’re wondering, Huawei is not the only brand affected by the novel coronavirus. In fact, Apple’s offline stores across China have been shut for a while now. Initially, Apple was planning to reopen the stores on 15th February but given the current situations, we could expect the Cupertino giant to expand the timeframe. We recently talked about the impact of coronavirus on the tech world, so don’t forget to check it out:
The firm expects the outbreak of coronavirus to be contained in March. With that said, the research director at Counterpoint Research Tom Kang points out that it will take more than two months for sales to get back on track as it used to be. He also thinks the decline in smartphone sales could affect the second quarter of 2020 as well, both in China and the international market. So, what are your thoughts on this situation? Let us know in the comments below.
