Coronavirus: impact on Apple and on the production of iPhone 9

Update: A dozen Apple Stores spread across Chengdu, Dalian, Guangzhou, Quingdao and Shanghai have reopened in China. Slowly we return to normal.

According to the reliable Japanese economic newspaper Nikkei, Apple risks not being able to eventually launch iPhone 9, the next low-cost iPhone SE that was supposed to debut in March. The factories are still required at 30-50% of the maximum capacity, and there are still many logistics and manpower questions to be solved, mainly due to the quarantine imposed by law. Mass production did not start in February as expected, and a planned launch becomes “very demanding”. In theory, Apple was to present iPhone 9 on March 31, and make it available in stores on April 3; in practice, with the Coronavirus that slows everything down, there is no longer certainty. Currently, COVID-19 has infected 73,000 people worldwide and the current over 1,870 deaths.

MWC of Barcelona Canceled
The Mobile World Congress, one of the most important global events dedicated to mobile telephony held in Barcelona, ​​has been canceled. Apple never participates, usually, but the news is still shocking and leaves the apprehension caused by the Coronavirus better included. Intel, LG, Nokia, Vodafone, ZTE, Nvidia, Sony, Amazon, Cisco, Ericsson and many other important companies have canceled the interventions and withdrawn the adhesions, so as to force the organizers to give up entirely. The situation worsens day by day, and in the meantime we have reached 1,113 deaths in China, and over 44,000 people have been infected.

Apple’s Troubles

In theory, the Foxconn plants in Shenzhen started on February 2, coinciding with the end of the New Lunar and in time for the production of the iPhone 9. In practice, a cause of the Coronavirus spread prevention procedure, the factories still remain closed, as well as the country’s Apple Stores.