Several tech launches of 2020 have been facing the dilemma of being postponed or canceled until further notice. Among these names was rumored to be Apple’s 2020 iPhone 12 lineup. Apple’s production lines in China had been disrupted, and there were several reports of delay in the upcoming models. Coronavirus pandemic effectively shut down China’s manufacturing industry for several weeks, which resulted in adverse long-term effects for tech brands.
Bloomberg reports that the second-largest economy in the world is starting to get back on track after several months of lockdown and shipments of Apple’s devices have surged up by 19% in March from previous year to 2.5 million units, according to calculations based on monthly data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank. The broader smartphone market, including Android devices, shrunk by roughly 22% to 21 million shipments.
The month of February was the most affected by the lockdown in China, which tracked iPhone shipments plunging over 60% year-on-year as factories remained shut past the Lunar Year Holiday Break. However, Apple’s assembly plants in China, run by Foxconn, have now slowly resumed operations with more than 200,000 workers returning to work in March at the mega-complex in Zhengzhou, known as “iPhone City.”
Apple’s 2020 iPhone 12 lineup is expected to include 4 new 5G-capable models. Their display sizes will range from 5.4-inches to 6.7-inches. Production of these new phones appears to be on track for now. As per Bloomberg:
The factory has shipped almost 300,000 iPhone units per day at that point, a similar output to its pre-coronavirus capacity.
China is still trying to restart its economic engines after weeks of paralysis to contain the coronavirus pandemic that had severely restricted business activity, disrupted supply chains, and the daily life of people. Analysts warn the country that it could take months before the economy returns to normal as the virus has spread rapidly around the world, leading to countrywide shutdowns.
