Sounding a positive note for smartphone makers in India, some state governments have allowed resumption of manufacture with a few restrictions in place, providing a much-needed shot in the arm for the smartphone companies.
Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are ready to resume manufacturing after the State governments in India gave a go-ahead to start manufacturing and assembling that came to a complete halt in late March due to the nationwide lockdown.
Because of the lockdown, no smartphones were sold in the month of April, as per a report by analyst firm Counterpoint.
The firm estimated that the smartphone shipments in India will decline by 10% this year, compared to an 8.9% growth in 2019 and a 10% growth in 2018.
India is the second-largest smartphone market, after China and the country is still under lockdown with various districts and states identified as 'Green', 'Yellow', or 'Red' zones depending on the number of positive Covid-19 cases. Green and orange zones account for 82% of India’s 733 districts.
Low-key operations
While the Central government had already allowed smartphone manufacture at the beginning of this month, the respective States had the last say in the matter.
As per statements issued by various smartphone manufacturers, work has resumed only with fewer workers and strict adherence to social distancing and personal protective gear regulations issued by the World Health Organisation.
Xiaomi, India's number one smartphone brand which recently unveiled its Mi 10 smartphone for India, revealed that its inventory would last for only three weeks. And it will resume manufacture at its contract partner Foxconn’s facility in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
As per TechCrunch, Wistron, a contract partner of Apple, has started limited operations for the iPhone-maker in Bangalore. Vivo, the second-largest smartphone vendor in India said the company will resume production at 30% of its capacity, while Oppo will resume production at its Greater Noida facility with around 3,000 employees who would work in rotation.
Samsung will also resume production in its largest smartphone factory in India set up back in 2018.
Via TechCrunch
