Will Coronavirus Impact Your Next Tech Purchase?

With the manufacturing cycle already taken a hit and the increase in the price of components, it looks like your shopping cart might get impacted.

 

In the last few weeks, Coronavirus is one of the most used, heard words across the globe. This life-threatening virus has reportedly claimed over 400 lives in China alone. Its epicenter is believed to be the market for illegal wildlife in Wuhan, China.

With thousands of people said to have been found infected from this deadly virus and this may soon be termed as a pandemic, an epidemic impacting two or more continents. Various countries have imposed travel restrictions and few like India have got their citizens airlifted.

While scientists are still trying to assess how lethal the highly transmissible virus actually is, it has already started showing its impact on different industries and technology-related businesses are impacted the most.

Coronavirus has taken everyone by surprise and companies like Apple, Google and others have already closed their offices and outlets in Mainland China. Others have curtailed non-essential travel and even face 2 face meetings are being avoided.

For the uninitiated, China accounts for over 75-80% of components including critical ones like displays, PCBs, memory chips, capacitors, TV panels, and more. These components are used in almost every electronic product you use on a daily basis. With this epidemic in its full impact, manufacturing facilities have taken a major hit. Due to the disruption in the supply chain, component prices are already up by 2-3% and these prices are most likely to increase further.

While the industry operates on a raw-material inventory of 25-30 days, developing alternative sources quickly will be a challenge. Asus may probably be the first company to have announced the impact of ROG Phone 2 supplies. Apple is reportedly working on a mitigation plan to ensure minimum impact of the supplies of its products.

All eyes are now on the upcoming Mobile World Congress brands from across the globe gather to present the best and the latest of tech innovations every year. Ripples of the epidemic could well be seen there.

With the manufacturing cycle already taken a hit and the increase in the price of components, it looks like your shopping cart might get impacted unless the situation back in China improves drastically over the next couple of weeks.


TAGS: Apple, Google, tech purchase, Mobile World Congress, coronovirus

 
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