Coronavirus hits business too

Virus outbreak will affect iPhone sales and production, Apple warns

- ALEX SUMMERSBY

THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK in Asia will not only hit Apple’s sales in affected countries but also lead to iPhone supply problems worldwide as it impacts on the smartphone’s production in China. The financial consequences will be serious: Apple issued an investor update in February to warn that it would not meet its previous revenue forecast for the March quarter.

The statement explained: “While our iPhone manufacturing partner sites are located outside the Hubei province [the center of the COVID-19 outbreak] — and while all of these facilities have reopened — they are ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated.” As a result “worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained” and these supply constraints “will temporarily affect revenues worldwide.”

PEOPLE THE PRIORITY

Apple’s statement took pains to express sympathy with “the communities and individuals most deeply affected by the disease, and with those working to contain its spread and to treat the ill”.