Industrial output report from China is coming out strong with nearly all sectors back up running 100%, the economy is back on the run and its war against Covid-19 is far and settled. But this victory does not reflect the real picture on the ground as many companies start reporting their export numbers.

Just like all other nations suffering severely from the lockdowns, Chinese enterprises were not immune to the pandemic as well, the smartphone sector one of the more robust industries suffered a whopping 34.8 percent decline with only 22.3 million shipped in July. In the Jan.-July period, shipments was down 20.4 percent year on year to 175 million units, said the CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Out of those 20.72 million units were from of Chinese brands making up 92.9 percent of overall globally shipped.

A nation that prides itself with technology readiness and a society that embraced eCommerce well before anyone else, the huge loss is not what China expected. Most of the brands depend on local shipment with Europe and Asia contributing to some extent, however the sales numbers indicate restraint on spending by the Chinese.

Huawei, one of the leading smartphone makers has seen them rise up to number one position in beating Samsung despite being banned in US and without Google apps. Local patriotic sentiment drove sales for Huawei, even then the overall volume is incomparable to its 2019 numbers. Pundits were also quick to point out the status will be short lived when new phones minus the apps are released.

China will not be settling for the dismal results, its already betting on 5G to reinvigorate its technology prowess with 119 5G models coming out of the country this year alone out of 256 new models introduced.