You likely knew that smartphone demand would fall during the COVID-19 pandemic when Apple and others were warning of shortages, but it’s now clearer just how bad the damage was. Strategy Analytics has determined that smartphone shipments fell 38 percent year-over-year in February, from 99.2 million to 61.8 million — the steepest drop in the recorded history of the market. Demand “collapsed” in Asia that month as people were unwilling or unable to visit stores, while some companies had to temporarily stop manufacturing devices after reports of infected workers.
