Online retail channels will account for a record 28% share of all smartphones sold worldwide in 2020, soaring from 24% in 2019. Coronavirus is having a major impact on the distribution of smartphones, with local quarantines and social distancing forcing consumers to change their shopping habits and behavior. The global virus pandemic is rewriting the rulebook of smartphone sales, as ever more businesses shift online.

Over 1 in 4 of all smartphones globally are now sold online. Smartphone buyers are turning to online shopping from the safety of their homes during the coronavirus crisis. Pure online retailers, such as Amazon of the US, Flipkart of India and JD.com of China, are among the clear winners from the worldwide shift to e-commerce for smartphone purchases.

Among the losers will be smartphone retailers with a large number of physical stores, who are seeing sales and profits crushed by the virus-led slump in footfall at shops and malls. Mobile operators will also be affected negatively, because a large chunk of their smartphone sales happen in-store and rely on face-to-face interactions with sales representatives. Mobile operators who sell smartphones may have to think the unthinkable in coming years and restructure or close many of their offline retail stores.