Apple sold fewer than 500,000 iPhones in China last month amid the ongoing curbs on travel and transport, according to government data shared on Monday (via Reuters).

newiphonesno3dtouch

Shipments of Apple devices slumped to 494,000, from 1.27 million in February 2019. In January, their shipments had held steady at just over 2 million.

That amounts to an almost 60 percent slump in iPhone sales – worse than IDC's forecasted drop in overall smartphone sales of roughly 40 percent in the first quarter due to the impact of coronavirus.

China's restrictions on public movement were enforced in late January just ahead of the Lunar New Year Festival and remained in place throughout most of February, which appears to have crippled demand for smartphones.

According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, mobile phone brands shipped a total of 6.34 million devices in February, down 55 percent from 14 million sold in February 2019.

Android brands like Huawei and Xiaomi suffered the worst, with shipments collectively declining from 12.72 million units in February 2019 to 5.85 million.

Apple closed all 42 of its retail stores in China at the beginning of February as the outbreak in China worsened, but most of the stores have re-opened, albeit operating with shortened hours. New infections and deaths reported in China have been declining in recent weeks, according to government data, suggesting the virus may have peaked there.

Apple in mid-February announced that its financial guidance for the March quarter would fall short due to the COVID-19 outbreak. During the January earnings call, Apple said it expected to see revenue of $63 to $67 billion in the March quarter, but that is no longer a goal the company will be able to meet.

Apple cited lower customer demand in China and constrained ‌‌iPhone‌‌ supplies worldwide as the factors leading to lower than expected revenue.

Top Rated Comments

DelayedGratificationGene Avatar
73 months ago
So?...half a million? I mean really? Just going to be pushed to the next Q. Probably cause more demand as people start creating around the block lines to get their iPhones. Sales are not lost like Starbucks or McDonald’s
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
newyorksole Avatar
73 months ago

I wonder why is it that when people worry about their lives and the lives of their loved ones, when they are under a mandatory quarantine or complete lockdown buy the authorities, they suddenly stop buying iPhones?
What is the correlation? Could it be that they want to hunker down and try to save money to use it on food, medicine, rent, etc.?
This is the first report that I’ve seen on how the calamity like an epidemic (turned into a pandemic) can burst the bubble that Apple has created.

Phones are a means of communication and now means of getting information and conducting commerce, but they are not supposed to be luxury status symbols. Apple created a fashion of having to buy a new $1,000 gadget every year just to show your friends that you can. It all works well and makes Apple tens of billions of dollars in profit every quarter until a calamity strikes. Then, people suddenly realize that there much more important things in life to take care of than buy a new smartphone annually. They figure their old smartphones work just fine, and they save the money for more essential goods and services than smartphone.
You think the behavior in the West will be different? You think people will be snatching up new $1,000 smartphones when their relatives are sick with Coronavirus and they are quarantined at home?

This is only the beginning. Apple has now become an nom-essential company. If one loses the iPhone in the midst of a Coronavirus pandemic and needs a phone to communicate with the relatives and to get information or order online food delivery while under a mandatory lockdown, one can spend $150 on a decent Android phone that will do all those things. Will one buy a $1,000 (or more) iPhone in that sort of situation? Most people won’t.
You raise interesting points, but I don’t think it’s that deep. Apple makes a lot of sales from their stores. People aren’t going out to their stores as much because of the lockdown.

People also probably would rather save their money like you said instead of buying any piece of electronics, not just Apple.

I’m sure a lot of industries are being impacted. Not just Apple. Apple will absolutely recover though. There’s not much to worry about IMO.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
falainber Avatar
73 months ago

Why weren’t people dying from hunger when they were under the lock down? Going to an Apple store is not the only way to buy an iPhone just like going to a grocery store is not the only way to buy groceries. If they could figure out how to get food under the lockdown, why couldn’t they figure out how to buy iPhones?
Maybe because people can't survive long without food? Without iPhone (or any phones) on the other hand they would probably live even longer.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
73 months ago

Why weren’t people dying from hunger when they were under the lock down? Going to an Apple store is not the only way to buy an iPhone just like going to a grocery store is not the only way to buy groceries. If they could figure out how to get food under the lockdown, why couldn’t they figure out how to buy iPhones?
So you ignore all but the first few words of my post, including the part about missing income?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
73 months ago

It's about to get cleared in China, aka currently infected number -> 0,
According to this, still a ton of active cases in China.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0924487 Avatar
73 months ago

According to this, still a ton of active cases in China.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
How many they have left doesn't really matter. In immunology, they care about the current R0 index and the current death rate. That is if the virus is spreading, contained, or reducing. If you look at the data now, by late-April China will recover. The medical supply production will outpace demand.

Based on the current model by the Chief Chinese Scientist on nCov19, the virus cases outside of China will surpass China by mid-April and will reach a peak in June.

The good thing is, China will have enough manufacturing volume on the key components by that time. So, that's good. If they don't place a ban on export to the US, which Trump may be less than pleased ironically.

A Biomed Lab in Shanghai just created a vaccine, the scientist who created it tried it on himself already lol... It's been quite effective when trialled on lab rats and monkeys/primates. It's been evaluated for clinical trials. So far, it's the only vaccine on the planet that has been used on human and that person didn't die and yet still seem promising.

So if the congress can help CDC and FDA to get some of that, it can save lots of lives. If we can make them here, it's even better. But, who cares about American bloodsucking big pharms? It's probably in the public interest to directly import ones from China, cheaper and more reliable. The Chinese make 70% of all the active ingredients in all drugs sold in the world outside of China. You can think of active ingredients as "the real drug inside drugs", aka, not cornstarch.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday October 1, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, and Safari. More features and changes will follow in future versions,...
john ternus on stage

Gurman: Major Apple Leadership Shakeup Impending With John Ternus as Next CEO

Monday October 6, 2025 6:21 am PDT by
Apple is entering its most significant leadership transition in more than a decade as multiple senior executives prepare to depart and CEO Tim Cook begins to shape the company's next generation of leaders, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that Jeff Williams, who was viewed as Cook's potential successor for several...
iPhone 17 vs Air and Pros Feature

New iPhones See 'Stronger Than Expected' Demand With One Exception

Thursday October 2, 2025 7:26 am PDT by
Nearly two weeks after the iPhone 17 series launched, analysts at investment banking firm Morgan Stanley said demand for the devices has been "modestly stronger than we originally expected," based on a combination of extended shipping estimates on Apple's online store and information it gathered from Apple's supply chain. There has been strong early demand for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro,...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26 Adds These 200 New Features and Changes to Your iPhone

Saturday October 4, 2025 8:19 am PDT by
Apple's website offers a list of nearly 200 new features and changes (PDF file) included in the software update, released last month. Apple also shared equivalent lists for iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer. To install the update, open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on General, and tap on Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight ...
ios 26 1 slide to stop

Apple Fixes Alarms in iOS 26.1

Monday October 6, 2025 11:56 am PDT by
With the second beta of iOS 26.1, Apple updated the design of alarms set on the iPhone, making them harder to dismiss than before. Stopping an alarm in iOS 26.1 beta 2 requires a new Slide to Stop gesture rather than a simple tap. You can continue to tap to snooze an alarm, but if you want to turn it off entirely, you need to use a swipe. Transitioning from a tap to a slide gesture to...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

iPad Mini 8 on the Way: Expected Features and Release Timeline

Monday October 6, 2025 5:05 am PDT by
A new iPad mini is "absolutely" on the way, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released a year ago? Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to information found in code that Apple mistakenly shared in...
iCloud iPhone 17 Pro

Apple Highlights Five Perks for iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage

Monday October 6, 2025 6:29 am PDT by
After launching new iPhones last month, Apple is promoting iCloud+ with a prominent banner on its home page, in a bid to boost its services revenue. In addition to more storage, all iCloud+ plans include five perks for iPhone users. As a refresher, iCloud includes 5GB of storage for free. If you want extra storage, you need to subscribe to an iCloud+ plan. In the United States, prices range...
macbook air prime day 2025

M5 MacBook Air: Release Date, Features, and Performance Predictions

Friday October 3, 2025 3:39 am PDT by
The MacBook Air is Apple's most popular laptop – a thin, fanless machine that wields quiet power thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon. While the M4 model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor. Apple doesn't telegraph new product launches ahead of time, but we can draw a surprisingly clear picture of what to expect by looking at Apple's silicon roadmap,...