Over the past couple of days, several states in India have issued lockdown orders to curb the spread of coronavirus. The watershed effect of this decision is that smartphone manufacturers present in the world’s second-largest smartphone market have shut down their production activities. Yesterday, Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, and LG said they’re closing their factories for various periods. Samsung said it’s putting production on hold in its Noida factory, which is the world’s biggest mobile manufacturing facility, until March 25. [Read: I listened to the coronavirus playlists on Spotify so you don’t have to] According to a report by the Economic Times, Chinese phone makers Oppo and Vivo are also closing down their facilities until March 25. We’ve asked for more details from these companies, and we’ll update the story if we hear back from them. Last evening, LG also said that it’s pausing production temporarily in its two factories in the country till the end of the month. Today, India’s top phone maker, Xiaomi, also joined the lot, and said it will follow lockdown orders from the authorities: Lenovo-owned Motorola is also closing down its plants, but the shutdown duration is not clear at the moment. The global smartphone market is already witnessing a slump as shipments went down 38 percent in February. While shutting down factories might have an impact on revenues and exports, it’s a positive step taken by companies to ensure their workers are safe and healthy.
