How Did COVID-19 Impact The Technology Industry?

The presence of COVID-19 has haunted the world for the past 1 year. Since its impact in China, the virus has destroyed millions of lives, putting a dent in the functioning of economies around the world. Not many industries managed to withstand the impact of COVID-19, including the technology sector.

As China is the main hub for producing components, the initial outbreak disrupted the entire global supply. As per the earlier analysis, it is predicted that the growth in the tech goods and services sector will take a hit by 2% in 2020 as compared to 2019. Following this statement, let’s find out how 2020 shaped away for the technology sector.

COVID-19’s impact on shipments

The sale of smartphones was the first to hit during the pandemic. In February 2020, 34.7 million fewer devices were shipped as compared to February 2019. This marks the single largest year drop in the market’s history. However, in the second quarter of 2020, Huawei registered a good recovery by shipping 6.8 million more devices as compared to the first quarter.

Coming to personal computers, its shipments also registered a decline from 70.61 million devices (fourth quarter of 2019) to 51.64 million devices (first quarter of 2020). But thanks to people working from home, there was a good recovery in the sale of personal computers in the second quarter of 2020.

There was no such decline in the sale of global wearable devices. On the contrary, it registered a sale of 125 million units in the third quarter of 2020.

The experiment of WFH running on tech’s shoulders

When the virus brought in social distance protocols and lockdowns, people heavily relied on technology to stay in touch with their loved ones and continue working for a living. The idea of ‘Work From Home’ was introduced, which led tech companies to function on the frontlines. Apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet registered millions of users worldwide. Also, there was a significant increase in the use of VPN around the globe.

To sum it up…

COVID-19 is here to stay for a while. Governments have deployed vaccines and treatments to adapt to the new normal. As things open up, spending power increases and signs of recovery like decent sale of smartphones and personal computers are recorded, we can expect a few sectors of the tech industry to do well in 2021.