The coronavirus pandemic is rattling the telecoms sector as well. Chinese tech giant Huawei this week was forced to launch its flagship P40 smartphones during an online streaming event due to the pandemic.

It's the first time that Huawei has used an online presentation on YouTube to unveil new products. Huawei executive Richard Yu showed three smartphones in an online presentation after a previously planned event was cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The new P40 series features an overflow display that curves over all four edges of the device. It also has the largest camera sensor on a smartphone, an optical zoom of 10 times and advanced artificial intelligence functions.

However, analysts say Huawei faces two challenges. First, consumer appetite for new smartphones has been sapped by the coronavirus pandemic. Second, the absence of Google's mobile services may turn many consumers away.

The ongoing pandemic has dented forecasts for smartphones sales with the global economy facing a recession.

However, Huawei remains optimistic, saying that with the pandemic was under control in China and the company's manufacturing was back up to speed.

Huawei also kicked off its developer conference 2020 online on Friday, to expand cooperation with app developers. This comes as the firm tries to fill the gap left by the absence of Google. More and more developers are now contributing to Huawei's ecosystems.