According to a report in Reuters, Apple Inc has decided to limit the maximum quantity of iPhones that can be ordered online to 2 pcs per customer. This cap on iPhone purchases has already become active on the company’s website in two of its major markets, America and China.  Some of the other countries where the Apple website carries this message are Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 

The limit in online purchases for the iPhone is due to the delay in supply and a dip in the product’s demand as a result of the spread of the Coronavirus across the world. The pandemic has led to the closure of many retail outlets, which may give people the option to buy iPhones online and sell it in the grey market as well. The limit of online purchases will help in stopping this from happening. 

Apple was one of the first to announce the closure of all its offline stores in China as soon as the news of the Coronavirus spread. This was done with a view to protect its own employees as well as to avoid the instances of its stores becoming the venues for passing on the virus in any manner. 

The news from China on the situation now is not very clear yet. The general sense is that the country has possibly got past the worst phase in the Coronavirus attack. The government has closed some of the temporary hospitals it had set up to tackle the flow of affected persons. There has also been no fresh cases of infections reported from China as well. 

Specific to Apple, its manufacturing partner Foxconn had said production, though impacted briefly has resumed and is back to normal. 

While this may be so, the company will have to contend with a market, whether in China, the US or elsewhere that may take months to recover due to the ongoing pandemic.