Sales for Apple and other smartphone makers slumped in China in February as the coronavirus kept shoppers at home.
Julian Satterthwaite reports.
Apple sales in China have slumped.
As the coronavirus kept shoppers home, its stores there were shut for at least two weeks in February.
Now new figures show what that did to business over the month.
Apple phone shipments slumped to just under 500,000 units, down from more than twice that number the year before.
Overall, Chinese smartphone sales fell 54.7% on the year, hitting their lowest February level since at least 2012.
Android-powered brands like Huawei and Xiaomi took the biggest hit in terms of units.
Their shipments fell to 5.85 million, down from over 12.7 million.
Now demand may bounce back if the virus crisis eases.
Monday (March 9) saw China report the lowest number of new cases since late January.
But it's still set to be a bleak period for phonemakers.
Analysts predict their shipments will be down about 40% in China over the first quarter.
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