Xiaomi says 80% of supply chain operational ahead of 5G phone launch

[March 19, 2020]  SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - China's Xiaomi had resumed operations for over 80% of its supply chain as of Thursday in the wake of the country's coronavirus outbreak, the company's president said.

Xiaomi branding is seen at a UK launch event in London, Britain, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Wang Xiang told an online media briefing that the company was still very confident in the European market as the virus situation there, while severe, was temporary.

The company said February had been a challenging month for it as its factories and offices struggled with various requirements for resuming operations.

Wang said that as of Thursday the company had reopened over 1,000 stores across China.

The company plans to launch a new flagship 5G smartphone, the Redmi K30 Pro, at a virtual press conference on March 24.

CEO Lei Jun unveiled the new line of devices via an online event last month.

Smartphone brands struggled in February as the coronavirus caused much of China to go into lockdown.

Mobile phone brands sold a total of 6.34 million devices in China, down 54.7% from 14 million in the same month last year, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed.

(This story corrects to read Lei Jun, paragraph 6)

(Reporting by David Kirton; editing by Jason Neely)

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