Supplies of the WRONG smartphones may run out
Is that a bad thing? Please decide.
In this moment, “Chinese factories hit by the coronavirus look to restart production”, but while the resulting disruption of supply chains may last only a few weeks, it seems that it is already wiping out the smartphone industry’s hopes for sales growth this year: “Supplies of the hottest phones may run out”.
Such a blow would not hit just phone makers and resellers: “Carriers are hoping Apple’s first 5G iPhone will boost their revenue by kicking off a new sales cycle and getting customers to upgrade their plans. Doubts about the launch timing are now creeping in, and Stanton said 5G marketing campaigns may need to be delayed."
OK, but even before Coronavirus…
- 5G was far from looking a success coming Real Soon Now
- 2019 was looking like the worst smartphone year ever… just like the ones before
It looks like even in this sector Coronavirus may, as I said a few days ago be the occasion, or the excuse, for an overdue reboot of the whole mobile industry, replacing its current attitudes and expectations with others that make more sense. For example, innovating on standard sizes for all smartphone batteries.
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I am Marco Fioretti, tech writer and aspiring polymath doing human-digital research and popularization.
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