Apple’s iPhone sales drop over 50% in February in China amidst the Coronavirus crisis

Monday’s government data revealed Apple’s iPhones to have taken a massive hit in terms of sales amidst the Coronavirus crisis in mainland China. The data suggested Apple to have sold less than half a million iPhones in February in China.

Towards the end of January, China had recommended its citizens to avoid unnecessary traveling and public places. With such restrictions extending into the Lunar New Year festival when people practice gift-giving in February, the demand for Apple’s iPhones was seen further declining sharply.

CAICT Highlights A 54.7% Decline In Mobile Devices Sales In February

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) said on Monday that 6.34 million devices in total were sold in China in February that marked a massive 54.7% decline as compared to 14 million in sales that were recorded in February 2019. CAICT’s data on mobile devices sold per month started publishing in 2012. Since the inception, CAICT has not published a weaker data for February than this year.

The rapid spread of Coronavirus across borders in conjunction with a steep decline in global oil prices that is threatening a recession, Wall Street remained broadly downbeat on Monday. Apple Inc. was also reported following the broader trend of the stock exchange as it recorded a 6% drop on Monday.

At the time of writing, Apple is exchanging hands at around $273 per share in the stock market that translates to under just under 10% decline in 2020 so far. Its performance in 2019, on the contrary, remained largely upbeat with the iPhone maker printing an annual gain of over 90%.

Analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush commented on Monday’s data and remarked:

“While this is very nervous time, we caution that Chinese demand in the March quarter is not the trend, but a “shock even” that we believe will be short lived.”

Xiaomi And Huawei Contributed The Most To Reduced Sales

The data also blamed Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies to have contributed the most in downbeat sales in February. The two Chinese manufacturers sold 5.85 million devices only in February as compared to 12.72 million units that they boasted in February 2019.

Apple, on the other hand, sold only 494,000 units in February in China versus 1.27 million devices that it sold last February. In January, Apple’s iPhone sales were recorded at a little above 2 million. In an attempt to contain the spread of the virus and to ensure its workers’ safety, Apple had kept its stores in mainland China shut for around 2 weeks in February. CEO Tim Cook has also recently warned Apple’s investors that the company is likely to miss its Q1 guidance that was announced earlier.