Global Notebook Shipments in Q1 2020 Estimated to Decrease 29-36% Following Coronavirus Outbreak

Following reports of potential production delays on iPhone components and even shipping delays for products like the Mac Pro, DigiTimes reports today that global notebook shipments could fall up to 36 percent in the first quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

macbook air trio transparent
This includes Apple supplier Quanta Computer, which produces Apple's MacBook line. Suppliers like Quanta have moved volume production to facilities in Taiwan to meet client needs, but a component shortage is believed to continue to affect shipment numbers. This shortage is due to suppliers who are prevented from going to work following the outbreak.

This component shortage is predicted to cause disruptions to the supply chain in March. Meanwhile, Quanta is said to be moving to accelerate volume production at its new facilities in Taiwan in order to fulfill rush shipments to its clients in the United States.

Previously, global notebook shipments were predicted to fall about 17 percent in Q1 2020, but that number has been increased to between 29 and 36 percent as of DigiTimes' latest research. "Severe labor and components shortages and stagnant logistics arising from the coronavirus outbreak are derailing supply chain in China, which commands over 90% of global notebook production."

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

levitynyc Avatar
63 months ago
This might indicate that maybe...just maybe we shouldn't be relying on China as hard as we do for their cheap labor.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SteveJUAE Avatar
63 months ago
And some people think they don't buy Chinese phones and laptops LOL
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MRrainer Avatar
63 months ago
If you look around, most industries are scrambling to assess their exposure.
Some haven't heard from their suppliers in China for weeks. If they send mail or phone, they receive boiler-plate answers that all will be well and they start production next week (which may or may not be true).

For fear of repercussions, nobody wants to diverge from the party-line over phone or email.

It could very well be the Black Swan, the straw that broke the camel's back, that ends up sending us down the rabbit-hole of a very deep recession.

Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory seems to start producing again, they have workers there at least. So that's a good sign. But Shenzen is still in lockdown. And so is of course Hubei.

We will see.

But this ain't gonna be pretty.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ksnell Avatar
63 months ago

Place of production does not matter / The place where the design and software was created is important.
Isn't it obvious they BOTH matter?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacBH928 Avatar
63 months ago
On the "glass half full" side of things, companies will finally understand not to rely too much on 1 source or country. Diversification is key to limit risks. This is nothing new but people don't seem to learn, so they get reminded with such things. I do hope corporation take a hard hit... like a devastating one.

This is also positive because as companies finally wake up and start withdrawing from relying on China, the totalitarian gov. will finally lose its economical grip and hopefully friendlier gov. like India and Indonesia might get the benefit. I am sorry for the people of China, but we can not fix their problems for them.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DevNull0 Avatar
63 months ago

This might indicate that maybe...just maybe we shouldn't be relying on China as hard as we do for their cheap labor.
The problem is no public company is able to think beyond the current quarter. A CEO who spends a little more on labor today in the hope it will save the company from a problem like this will be fired very quickly. A CEO who puts all their eggs in the cheapest basket can shirk off blame for something like this which was "beyond their control".

GM wen't bankrupt because of short term greed. Ford was more responsible and weathered the storm on their own. So the government bailed out GM using everyone's tax money including Ford's, and GM is the bigger more successful company. Our entire system punishes healthy sustainable behaviour.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)