On January 28, Apple's CEO, talking about the coronavirus, told Reuters that while they have suppliers in the Wuhan area, the heart of the outbreak, they have alternatives. Today we're learning about one of their alternatives.

It's being reported by Digitimes today that "Production disruption in China is everyone's nightmare in the IT supply chain in the wake of the coronavirus. Many makers are raising their production outside of China, and Apple reportedly is shifting its orders to assembly lines in Taiwan for an array of products."

In addition, the report claims that "Apple is mulling shifting more assembly orders for its new models slated for launch in the first half of 2020 to factories in Taiwan mainly to diversify production risks associated with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak." The latter is regarding Apple new SE2 (or iPhone 9) model.

Beyond Apple, Chinese reports from Caixin Global point to IDC China stated that China's handset market could plunge by 40% in Q1which could account for 4% overall for 2020.

Yet for Q1, the crunch is on Chinese smartphone vendors.  In a second report Caixin, smartphone maker Xiaomi is one of 300 businesses approaching banks for a total of US$8.2 billion in new loans to cover from the impact of the coronavirus.

To make up for plummeting smartphone sales, Xiaomi is seeking loans of 5 billion yuan to produce medical resources such as masks and thermometers.