Revising its estimates amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, a brand new report mentioned on Thursday that smartphone manufacturing in India is more likely to tumble by 38-40 per cent within the first half (H1) of this 12 months.

The prospects for H2 2020, nevertheless, are brighter with shipments more likely to rise 15 per cent year-on-year, thus, elevating the trade spirits, mentioned the report from CyberMedia Research (CMR)

“Our current India smartphone market assessment points to a bleak picture, with some promise in H2. We anticipate a significant drop of around 20 per cent YoY in smartphone shipments in Q1,” Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, mentioned in an announcement.

“There will be a full-blown impact in Q2 2020, with a sharp decline of around 28 per cent YoY,” Ram added.

Both provide and demand have been hit and whereas the OEMs may tide over the preliminary wave of coronavirus disaster in January and February with enough part provides, the closure of smartphone factories in India has dented restoration prospects for H1.

Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme and others have quickly shut manufacturing in India amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown.

On the demand aspect, with the coronavirus scare, offline channels are massively impacted with gross sales down by 55-60 per cent.

“If one were to go by China’s experience, the online channels made-up for the deficit, incurred in offline channels. However, in the Indian context, with the initial 21-day lockdown in force, we are now looking at a rather uncertain future.”

“That said, we believe online has the potential to pick-up in terms of sales during mid- to late- Q2 and beyond,” mentioned Amit Sharma, Manager-Research, CMR.

For smartphone manufacturers, the coronavirus pandemic will trigger them to mirror, and realign their market methods.

“In H2, the smartphone market will recover, and perform better in the run-up to festive season and beyond. The pent-up consumer demand will be high, and with the right messaging from smartphone brands, consumers would seek to upgrade their value for money, and premium smartphones,” Ram famous.