Phone shipments plunge 34pc

Shipments of smartphones within China fell 33.9 percent year-on-year to 26.97 million handsets in April, the China Academy of Information and Communications reported yesterday.

The figures suggest that the handset industry has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but nevertheless mark an end to a surge earlier this year.

Shipment numbers are down from 40.8 million in April 2020 and 35.5 million in March 2021, according to the CAICT, a state-backed think tank.

The year-on-year decline is in part due to April 2020's surge in shipments following a low point as Covid-19 peaked in China.

However, the most recent monthly figures also fall below those of April 2019, when vendors shipped 34.8 million devices.

Despite the pandemic's retreat in China, handset brands now face production issues due to a global computer chip shortage.

A combination of factors, including demand miscalculation, unexpected factory shutdowns and US-China tensions, caused a number of automobile companies to report chip sourcing issues in late December.

Meanwhile, production of the Apple iPhone 12 at a Foxconn factory in India has fallen by more than 50 percent because workers infected with Covid-19 have had to leave their posts, two sources said.