Coronavirus to hurt smartphone shipments: report

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- Global shipments of smartphones may be 2 percent less than expected this year as the outbreak of the new coronavirus is widely forecast to hamper the global smartphone supply and manufacturing, according to a market researcher Sunday.

According to Strategy Analytics, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus will hit China and the global economy, which will in turn adversely impact the global smartphone shipments due to the slow economy and weak consumer spending.

The spread of the deadly virus will also impact global smartphone supply and manufacturing in China, as the world's No. 2 economy makes 70 percent of all smartphones sold on the planet.

In case of China, its smartphone shipments are expected to be 5 percent less than expected this year because of the virus outbreak.

Any delay of operations for factories, by quarantine or travel restriction, will inevitably cause temporary labor supply shortages, it added.

sam@yna.co.kr
(END)