COVID-19

COVID-19 is a virus that is responsible for the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. It is also linked with the precipitous drop of Apple Inc.'s stock price from over US$325 to below $225 per share in a matter of weeks in early 2020.

Retail closures

 * See also: Apple Store (retail) / 2020 closures and reopenings

Apple initially closed their retail stores in China, starting early February 2020, in response to the pandemic. Apple soon closed all of their store locations worldwide.

Retail stores in China were reopened on March 13, 2020 as the outbreak in China was stated to be under control. This was followed by the reopening of Apple's store in Seoul, South Korea on April 18, with limited hours and an emphasis on repair appointments. Stores in Australia reopened on May 7, with requirements of face masks, social distancing, and temperature checks of customers. Other stores, including some in the United States, are reopening on a rolling basis in May, based on local conditions and guidelines.

Product launches
On the early morning of April 17 in California, Apple's retail store closure page due to the COVID-19 pandemic was briefly redirected to the pre-order page of the newly announced 2nd generation iPhone SE. This was quickly reverted by the time pre-orders became active. Apple seeded a golden master of iOS 13.5 to developers on May 18, which included faster bypassing of Face ID to the passcode unlock screen if the user is wearing a mask.

Market analysts speculated that future product launch dates would be affected due to disruptions in Apple's manufacturing supply chain. After the 2nd generation iPhone SE was launched in April 2020, Rod Hall of investment bank Goldman Sachs then predicted that Apple would not be able to ship the upcoming IPhone 12 by November and recommended that investors sell their Apple stock. However, by May 2020, Apple's stock market value had mostly recovered following positive earnings reports despite the pandemic.

Other initiatives
On March 27, 2020, Apple released a web-based screening tool and app to help detect symptoms related to infections of the COVID-19 virus. These were developed in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

On April 5, 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that the company had sourced 20 million N95 masks through its supply chain and was donating them to governments and hospitals. Apple was also designing face shields for medical workers that it would be able to produce and donate at a rate of 1 million per week. The first shipment was delivered to Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Santa Clara Valley, California.

On April 14, 2020, Apple provided a tool to access anonymized navigation data from Apple Maps to help track COVID-19 mobility trends.

Apple will hold its 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference in an online-only format, starting on June 22. Cook expects Apple's headquarters to reopen in June with employees returning to the office on a staggered basis with temperature checks and social distancing.

Articles

 * Why Apple’s iPad Is the Gadget of the Pandemic by Brian X. Chen at The New York Times (archived 2020-04-21)