The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc across the globe at the moment. Social media platforms are battling with the spread of misinformation. Moreover, the Indian government has imposed a 21-day nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the disease. The move restricts the free movement of people in the country. This has severely hit India’s tech industry. Tech companies like Samsung, OPPO and Vivo have temporarily shut down their manufacturing factories. Many brands have also postponed their upcoming launches even after switching to online-only events. E-commerce portal Amazon is also focussing on sales of essential products by temporarily discontinuing shipment of low-priority goods.
Earlier in February, the pandemic had derailed Mobile World Congress (MWC) tech trade show in Barcelona, Spain. Search giant Google also cancelled its annual I/O developer conference. Meanwhile, back in India, smartphone manufacturers Xiaomi and Realme have postponed the launch of Mi 10 and Realme Narzo smartphones respectively. Vivo has suspended its upcoming product launches as well. Cupertino-based Apple has also shut down its production facilities at manufacturing partner Foxconn and Wistron. With manufacturing coming to a halt, we are likely to see delays in upcoming launches, sales and deliveries.
Meanwhile, as a result of country-wide lockdown, brands like OnePlus, Realme, OPPO and Huawei have extended warranties on their products. Device warranties that are set to expire during this lockdown period will get an extension. The companies are also providing an extension validities on services like screen replacement. Both OnePlus and Realme are extending warranty on its smartphones, earphones and accessories till 31st May. The replacement period is also increased from 15 to 30 days. OPPO is offering extended warranty until further notice.
Huawei users whose warranty is expiring between March 21st-June 21st will get extended warranty till June 30th. The brand is also offering a doorstep repair service for its smartwatch in India. It includes a no-cost replacement for its devices that have manufacturing defects or performance-related issues. However, if the smartwatch is out of warranty period, users can also avail its spare parts.
We haven’t seen the full impact of COVID-19 yet. With consumer demand in India expected to plummet in 2020, we are going to see a few rough quarters to say the least. Smaller companies and startups are going to suffer the most with several of them headed towards layoffs.
What has been the impact of COVID-19 on your tech consumption? Tell us in comments.
