Vivo suspends new product launches in India, Realme postpones Narzo sales due to COVID-19
COVID-19, commonly referred to as the novel coronavirus, has had a very wide scale impact on all of our lives. The effects of the pandemic are being felt all around the world, and the smartphone industry is no exception. Most notably, events like MWC 2020 and Google I/O 2020 have been canceled for the year, both of which were considered to be major events for the industry. Smartphone and component production and related supply chains have been hit in China, which has caused disruption in schedules and plans for several players. As COVID-19 spreads rapidly in other parts of the world, it is causing further disruption to the smartphone industry. Vivo has now announced that it is suspending the launch of new products in India, while Realme has postponed the sale of Realme Narzo, because of COVID-19-related disruptions.
Vivo was scheduled to launch the Vivo V19 in India on March 26, but the launch was pushed back to April 3, 2020. However, the Indian government has tightened the restrictions within the country to control the spread of the pandemic, and the country has entered a full lockdown phase since March 22. Only essential services are exempted from the lockdown, and smartphones do not come under this category. Consequently, even if companies in India do go ahead with online launch events and online sales, there will be very limited options available to actually deliver the products sold to the consumers.
In light of the lockdown and restrictions, Samsung, OPPO, Realme, Vivo had decided to temporarily suspend smartphone production within India. Now, Vivo has gone ahead and canceled the launch of products in India for the foreseeable future.
Dear friends,
A heartfelt message for all of you. pic.twitter.com/SdPIXDpLpr— Nipun Marya (@nipunmarya) March 24, 2020
Vivo had an impressive Q4 2019, as it had overtaken Samsung to become the second-most shipped brand in India, so the decision to indefinitely suspend launches was not an easy one to take for the company.
Meanwhile, Realme is putting on hold the sales plans for its upcoming Realme Narzo series.
During these tough times, we are taking initiatives to:
Postpone sale of #realmeNarzo series, current stocks on hold.
Hope the health of our people & country’s economy gets minimum impact.
pic.twitter.com/6MDZq0na9A
— Madhav 5G (@MadhavSheth1) March 24, 2020
Realme Narzo 10 and Narzo 10A are scheduled to launch in India on March 26, 2020. Realme seems intent on moving ahead with the launch, but only postponing the sale of the device. No new dates have been announced yet as doing so right now would be unrealistic.
Xiaomi also has an upcoming launch in India. The company is scheduled to launch the Mi 10 in the country on March 31, 2020. While the country has not announced anything on this end just yet, we expect sales to be postponed in this case as well. To Xiaomi’s credit, the company has been proactive in relief efforts.
Nonetheless, we do feel that these decisions to suspend events and postpone sales are sound and in-line with current priorities of health and safety. Hopefully, the situation improves soon and we can get back to our scheduled routine of launches and events.
Source: @NipunMarya, @MadhavSheth1
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