As the coronavirus continues to impact companies across the country, one of the largest tech giants in the world might be suspending the launch of its new flagship product. Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) tumbled on Wednesday after a report from the Nikkei Asian Review said that the company might be delaying the annual launch of its iPhone.
While it wasn’t mentioned for certain whether this would be the case, and if so, for how long Apple would postpone the launch, the news was enough to send shares of the tech giant down a little despite the fact they were up for most the day. Apple has successfully launched each new version of its iPhone either in September or October for the past nine years. However, it wouldn’t be surprising that the tech giant chooses to postpone its long-time tradition due to these exceptional circumstances.
The outlet reported that Apple could push back this launch by “months” if not longer. Additionally, it also reported that Apple’s new iPhone would be able to support the new 5G networks being rolled out across the country. As such, pressure is quite high on management to ensure that this new phone is a hit, hence why pushing back the launch to a more opportune time seems so likely.
Since Apple’s headquarters are located in Silicon Valley, where the coronavirus is raging, all of its engineers and corporate staff are working remotely from home. Nikkei also wrote that Apple might not be able to finalize its iPhone plans until things return to normal, and its employees return to working at the office. Analysts at JP Morgan have also speculated that Apple could end up delaying its iPhone launch by a couple of months as well.
Shares of Apple are down around 0.5% over the course of the day, with the stock falling an extra 0.4% in after-hours trading. Over the past month, Apple has given back around 20% of its market value thanks to this coronavirus-driven bear market. Many analysts are worried that Apple could see further declines in the future if the market gets worse. Although the Trump administration has succeeded in putting a $2 trillion economic stimulus package into law, time will tell whether this will be enough to completely mitigate the damage the coronavirus is doing to the economy.
Apple Company Profile
Apple designs a wide variety of consumer electronic devices, including smartphones (iPhone), tablets (iPad), PCs (Mac), smartwatches (Apple Watch), and TV boxes (Apple TV), among others. The iPhone makes up the majority of Apple’s total revenue. In addition, Apple offers its customers a variety of services such as Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Care, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Card, and Apple Pay, among others. Apple’s products run internally developed software and semiconductors, and the firm is well known for its integration of hardware, software and services. Apple’s products are distributed online as well as through company-owned stores and third-party retailers. The company generates about 40% of its revenue from the Americas, with the remainder earned internationally. – Warrior Trading News
