Apple's retail store in Sanlitun, Beijing Photos: Li Hao/GT

Amid the coronavirus outbreak that has hit the retail sector, Apple stores have seen some rebound in sales, as some of its products cater to the growing demand for distance education caused by the epidemic in China. However, an industry insider warned that Apple's first-half sales may still drop 30 percent in China and 20 percent globally.

A Global Times reporter learned from Apple's retail store in Sanlitun, Beijing on Wednesday that despite stagnant sales of iPhones, sales of iPads have risen dramatically as online education thrives amid the outbreak.

"We don't have discounts here," a staffer at the Apple store said. "You know the best-selling items now are iPads, which students use to attend online classes and deliver their homework, and that has provided a sudden boom in demand to us."

Given this context, the store has to bring in more supplies every day to meet the unexpected demand.

"If you want to buy the basic version of the iPad, you need to come to our store when it is opened at 10 am … if you come in 11 am or later, you may come in vain," a staffer said, adding that some schools request certain apps for online classes that are not designed for computers but are accessible on iPads.

Despite the iPad's popularity, Apple has seen a sluggish trend due to production having not fully recovered, as well as a disrupted supply chain and the ongoing global spread of the coronavirus.

Apple's retail store in Sanlitun, Beijing

According to a news website called Apple Cult of Mac, which cited a source from Apple, the company decided to postpone the launch of the new iPhone SE 2 in March after delays in production partially due to the epidemic.

Industry analysts believe that given the disrupted supply chain and production and the ongoing spread of the coronavirus, there is a possibility that the annual new product launch event in September may also be postponed.

"Now that COVID-19 is a global epidemic, it is possible that the US will restrict large gatherings, so the indoor press conference itself will be difficult to hold," said Liang Zhenpeng, a Beijing-based senior industry analyst. An online event would be less effective because of the lack of interaction, Liang said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co will start mass production of 5-nanometer chips in April, and judging from the available data, the largest 5-nm capacity will be Apple's A14 processor for the new iPhone in the fall, a report by technology news platform Mydrivers said on Wednesday.

Yet an analyst in the industry Luo Qingqi told the Global Times on Wednesday that Apple's products already lag behind the industry's development trend and the coronavirus is just another hit to Apple, which was already on a downslope.

"Its flagship product iPhone models do not even have 5G when most of the mobile brands have launched theirs in the market and I am not even sure if there is going be a 5G iPhone for this year," he said.

Apple's product development and innovation in the past two years are far behind compared with the times of Steve Jobs, and in many ways, it has been overtaken by China's Huawei and South Korea's Samsung, Luo said.

Liang said that despite the rising sales of iPads, Apple's sales in the first half of the year may still drop 30 percent in China and 20 percent globally amid the outbreak.