Coronavirus (COVID-19) has not only compelled tech giants to temporarily shut down the manufacturing of their products but also forced them to withdraw their names from several global events. Some events like MWC 2020 and Facebook F8 Conference were cancelled, and the situation is likely to continue hurting the companies. Samsung is the latest in the line of organisations that are feeling the heat of the Coronavirus outbreak. The company has shut its manufacturing line and has seen a decline in the sales of its newly-launched Galaxy S20 smartphones.
Samsung has announced that its manufacturing units in South Korea will be shut after a worker was tested positive for the coronavirus. ‘Samsung’s mobile device factory in Gumi, close to Daegu, where most of the South Korean virus cases have been confirmed, will be closed until Sunday evening for disinfection work, while the floor where the infected employee worked will reopen on Tuesday afternoon,’ a company statement said. The Gumi line makes Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy S20 premium phones.
According to media reports, the sales of the Samsung Galaxy S20 were lacklustre on the first day and 50 per cent lower than its predecessors. The South Korean giant sold about 70,800 units of the smartphone in the domestic market. This is lower than the first-day figure for the previous device, the Galaxy S10 Series. Reportedly, Samsung sold 140,000 units of the Galaxy S10 Series and 220,000 units of the Galaxy Note 10 smartphones on the first days of their sales.
‘Sales were affected by sharp declines in discounts for new phones and the number of visitors to offline stores due to coronavirus infection fears,’ an official was quoted as saying. Although the phones are available online, people still want to feel the gadgets before they purchase it. Apparently, customers aren’t going to stores amid Coronavirus fears and don’t want to purchase phones before using them physically at the brick and mortar stores.
