Will Upcoming Sony products be delayed due to the Coronavirus?

Sony has released a statement regarding the impact of the coronavirus on their operations. As expected, production sites have been shut down or were shut down in the past. Sony has 4 plants in China, and all 4 were closed from January 24th to February 9th. Currently both plants in Malaysia are closed. The Penang factory is the main production for a lot of Sony Audio products, like wireless headphones and Walkmans, so its closure will sure have an effect on upcoming audio products.

From this article, both production and R&D take plate at the Penange plant, so production of new products and potential new products would be delayed due to the closure. The plant produces almost every single part of the products, even PCBs, and performs full assembly as well. I am not sure if parts are coming from Malaysia (locally) or China as well.

Sony also has a plant in the UK in Wales, but it looks like that is only dedicated to Camera equipment and repair work.

Here is the full statement from Sony:

1. Conditions at Sony's Offices

• In accordance with mandates from national and local governments, Sony has closed a portion of its offices, mainly in Europe and the U.S., where employees are now working from home. Additionally, at Sony's offices in Japan and other areas, employees must work from home, excluding a small number of essential employees.
• Sony has four manufacturing plants located in China (two in Shanghai, one in Wuxi, Jiangsu, and one in Huizhou, Guangdong). All of these plants were shut down in accordance with government mandates, from the beginning of the spring holidays on January 24, 2020, until February 9. From February 10, all four plants have re-started operations in increments. Supply chain issues remain, but operations are returning to the level they were before the spread of the virus.
• In accordance with a mandate by the local government, Sony has shut down both of its manufacturing plants in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur and Penang) for the period between March 18 and April 14 (planned).
• Sony has also shut down its manufacturing plant in the U.K. (Wales) for the period between March 26 and April 20 (planned) in accordance with a mandate from the local government.
•  Business has been impacted by factors such as restrictions on movement of people across national borders, making it difficult for Sony to send engineers to manufacturing hubs such as China and countries in Southeast Asia for the purpose of helping with new product launches or giving instructions on manufacturing.

2. Impact on Sony’s Businesses

Currently, the key impacts on each of Sony's businesses are as follows.

Electronics Products & Solutions Segment

• In addition to the shutdown of Sony's manufacturing plants in Malaysia, the flow of resources from suppliers in Asia has become unstable, having a wide-ranging impact on the manufacturing of goods in this segment.
• Sales of Sony's products are also being affected by lockdowns around the world and retailer closings.

So it is clear that production and R&D are severely impacted. Current models will have their production stopped, with upcoming models production either also stopped or delayed for the time being. 

So we could looking at potential delays for the WI-SP510, WF-SP800N, WF-XB700, WH-CH710N and of course WH-1000XM4. How long this delay will be depends on how quickly Sony can reopen the factories in Malaysia. Perhaps Sony is able to move production over from Malaysia to China so as to minimize the delay for new products and current devices. Maybe someone knows if this is possible, so please leave a comment below.

Here is the list of where each model is manufactured:

• WH-1000XM4 - Malaysia
• WF-SP800N - Malaysia
• WF-XB700 - Vietnam
• WH-CH710N - Vietnam
• WI-SP510 - Vietnam
• NW-A100 - Malaysia
• NW-ZX500 - Malaysia
• WH-1000XM3 - Malaysia
• WF-1000XM3 - Malaysia
• WF-H800 - Malaysia
• WH-H910N - Malaysia
• WH-H810 - Malaysia
• WI-1000XM2 - Malaysia
• WI-XB400 - Vietnam
• WH-XB900N - China

I cannot find much information about the Vietnam production site, but I would imagine it is also closed down, so if anyone has any information about this plant, please post a comment below or contact me.

The highly anticipated WH-1000XM4's production is likely stopped for now. Even if it was in production earlier before the shutdown, I doubt many units were manufactured. Who knows how long this shutdown will last but it could be anywhere from 1-3 months easily depending how severe the virus situation will be in Malaysia and around the world. If the upcoming WH-1000XM4 was already being produced, some stock exists but will it be enough for the initial demand? Sony could still introduce the new model, but push the availability date a few months later. I do hope Sony does not decide to launch it in limited markets, since then I suspect people will be reselling the WH-1000XM4 on Ebay at highly marked up prices.

It remains to be seen if this year's Walkmans will be delayed, I hope not, but if nothing appears on the FCC or any other certification site before summer ends, then I suspect they will be delayed and moved to maybe even early next year.

I am sure someone out there knows something regarding any delays, so please leave an anonymous comment or email me please with any information.

Source: Sony