With the spread of the Corona 19 virus infection, demand for tablets such as iPads is increasing in China, and the shortage is expected to continue for some time. According to foreign media, the reason is that there are many cases of waiting at home to prevent the spread of the virus. Numerous Chinese office workers are working from home, and many schools are also launching online courses for students from home, so tablet demand is increasing.
Currently, most stores are unable to resume normal operations, so the main means of purchasing tablets is limited to e-commerce platforms. Perhaps that is why many tablets are sold out in shopping malls and prices are rising. Specifically, the 10.2-inch iPad with 32GB of storage and 128GB of storage is sold for 2,499 yuan and 3,099 yuan, respectively. It costs 100 to 200 yuan more than Apple’s official store.
The iPad is produced by Compal for the entry model, and Foxconn for the iPad Pro series. Both companies have factories located in southwestern China, but the utilization rate is estimated to be around 30%. It can be said that the price increase is caused by shortages due to the combination of increasing demand for working from home and online classes and decreasing production speed.
According to the WHO report, in China, more than 78,000 people are infected and more than 2,400 people have died. Related information can be found here .