Laptop shipments may collapse up to 36 percent this quarter

DigiTimes writes the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the consumer electronics market is worse than previously estimated. The outbreak has derailed production and consumer demand in China and shipment of mobile devices are expected to see a massive decline this quarter.

For example, the site notes estimates laptop shipments will be down 29 to 36 percent, much worse than the previous estimate of 17 percent. Over 90 percent of laptops are manufactured in China and a lot will depend on material and component distribution, as well as work resumption, which is slower than expected.

Global notebook unit shipments for the first quarter of 2020 are estimated to plunge 29-36% than the 17% projected earlier, as severe labor and components shortages and stagnant logistics arising from the coronavirus outbreak are stalling the supply chain in China, which commands over 90% of global notebook production, according to Digitimes Research's freshly published special report about the coronavirus outbreak's impacts on the productions and markets of notebooks, smartphones and tablets.

Smartphone production is also hurt a lot but tablets are faring a bit better because most tablet factories remained in production during the Lunar New Year holiday.