Smartphone shipments to the China market in first-quarter 2020 plunged 51.9% from the prior quarter to reach the lowest single-quarter shipment volumes in recent years, as the market was influenced by slow season and the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus outbreak has resulted in labor shortages and shipment disruptions in China's supply chain, but Digitimes Research believes if the epidemic gets under control, China-based top-4 smartphone brands' shipments are expected to drop 19.5% on year in the first quarter of 2020, while smartphone AP shipments to China will fall 11.4% on year during the period.

The coronavirus outbreak has disrupted production and weakened consumer confidence, with all ICT sectors bracing for major declines in shipments. Digitimes Research has conducted analyses on three mobile device sectors, namely notebooks, smartphones and tablets in the wake of the outbreak. The Special Report offers the latest updates about production statuses and shipments outlook for 2020 for each of the three sectors.

The tablet sector is witnessing better capacity recovery than the notebook and handset sectors.

The coronavirus outbreak has resulted in labor shortage and shipment disruption in China's supply chain.

Global tablet shipments amounted to 43.23 million units in fourth-quarter 2019 as white-box vendors had excess inventory, causing their shipments for the quarter to weaken, while brand vendors saw the momentum from the third quarter continue into fourth-quarter shipments.

Falling 1.5% sequentially and 7.2% annually, fourth-quarter 2019 smartphone shipments to China remained weak mainly because vendors had difficulty depleting channel inventory, 5G infrastructure coverage was still limited, 5G phones still came with high price tags, telecom operators did not subsidize phones as keen as they did when 4G phones started becoming available and the world economy was weakened by lingering trade tensions. Despite the quarter being the traditional high season, shipments were not very strong.

Mini LEDs and micro LEDs are expected to become improved backlighting solutions that can significantly enhance displays' quality and create added value in the upcoming years.

Global tablet shipments came to a total of 44.32 million units in the third quarter of 2019, up 35.7% sequentially and 1.5% on year.

Smartphone shipments by China-based vendors in third-quarter 2019 came to a total of above 180 million units, down 2.5% on quarter and 5.3% on year.

Global small- to medium-size LCD panel shipments are estimated to drop from 2020 to 2024, while large-size ones will continue enjoying growths through 2020, but start slipping in 2021.

2019 global tablet shipments will slide significantly from the level of 2018 as brand tablets are experiencing weakening momentum from tablet replacement and demand for education tablets, while white-box tablets also face decelerated demand for small-size models and fierce competitions from brand tablets.