Apple sold less than half a million smartphones in China in February, government data showed today, as the spread of the Coronavirus affected demand, China placed travel restrictions and asked residents to avoid public places in late January ahead of The Lunar New Year. These restrictions remained largely in place for most of February.
Overall, mobile phone brands shipped a total of 6.34 million devices that month, down 54.7% from 14 million in February 2019, data from the Chinese Academy of Information and Communication Technology showed.
Android brands, including devices made by Huawei and Xiaomi, accounted for most of the decline, collectively saw shipments drop from 12.72 million units in February 2019 to 5.85 million, according to the data.
Apple device shipments fell to 494,000, from 1.27 million in February 2019. In January, its shipments remained stable at just over 2 million.
Two research companies had earlier predicted that total smartphone shipments would drop by nearly 40% in the first quarter as the outbreak hurts demand and raises the supply chain problem, and Apple's branded stores in China were closed for at least two weeks in February as the brain surged F from the outbreak of the virus.
