Global smartphone sales contracted 14% in February as the coronavirus spread in China and abroad, according to Counterpoint Research.

The results are likely to herald further declines as the situation with Covid-19 is worsening in many parts of the world.

The pandemic prompted Apple and other smartphone makers to close their stores in China in February, and government figures in the Asian country show the US giant sold less than 500,000 smartphones in mainland China in the same month.

China, which saw a 38% drop in sales in February compared to a year earlier, is now showing signs of a rebound, with many stores reopening since mid-March.

There are signals of a recovery in South Korea as well, but in the other parts of the world the “worst is yet to come”, commented analysts of Counterpoint.

Smartphone manufacturers are facing new supply chain problems as more and more countries are quarantined and this is stopping orders. On Tuesday, Foxconn, one of Apple’s key subcontractors, said it would suspend production in India to respond to government orders that imposed a 21-day quarantine.