More than half of Apple retail stores are back open in China after being closed for weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak, reports Bloomberg. As of Monday, 29 of China’s 42 Apple Stores were open to customers again.
The news is a major step in the right direction for those worried about Apple’s stock price in recent weeks. Last week Apple announced it would not hit its original Q2 revenue forecast because of the impact of the coronavirus on manufacturing in the country. The virus, officially known as COVID-19, has led to many factories where iPhones and other Apple products are made shutting their doors, leading to supply chain disruptions.
But the virus has also hit Apple’s retail sales in the country, which is the second most-important market after America for Apple, as the company closed many of its retail stores. Now that more than half of its retail stores are open in the country again, the coronavirus’s impact on Apple’s bottom line in China may lessen.
However, though 29 of Apple’s 42 retail stores in China are open once again, many are operating at reduced hours, reports Bloomberg. Some of the open stores are only open for eight hours a day or fewer, instead of their normal 12-hour day opening time. Apple’s stock price fell almost 5% yesterday as fear over the coronavirus’s expansion in Europe and the Middle East saw the stock market take its biggest single-day hammering in two years.
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