Indian smartphone makers fear supply disruptions due to corona virus
The deadly coronavirus outbreak in China could start to disrupt India’s production of smartphones if it continues to spread in February, industry executives said, as it could delay component shipments.
India is the world’s biggest smartphone maker after China but is still largely dependent on China for supplies of parts such as cells, display panels, camera modules and printed circuit boards.
Taiwan’s Foxconn and Wistron make iPhones in India for Apple, and Foxconn produces phones there for China’s Xiaomi as well. Other smartphone makers in India include South Korea’s Samsung and China’s OnePlus.
So far smartphone makers in India have weathered the impact of the virus, which has already killed 170 people, partly because they had ramped up inventories of Chinese-made parts anyway to cover the Lunar New Year holiday period when China’s factories close down.