Apple jars investors into coronavirus realities

HONG KONG/NEW YORK: Apple could finally make investors as concerned as the wider population about the latest novel coronavirus. The iPhone maker warned on Monday that quarterly revenue would fall short of the $63 billion to $67 billion guidance it provided a few weeks ago because of supply and demand problems in China. The ripple effects from the outbreak may now become more apparent.

Apple’s brick-and-mortar stores in China remain closed. Third-party vendors and online sales haven’t provided a sufficient cushion. The tech titan said while its manufacturing partners have no factories in Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, operations elsewhere in the country were “ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated.”