San Francisco, Feb 28 Optimistic that China is slowly bringing the coronavirus outbreak in control, Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted factories in China that manufacture its devices may open soon.
"It feels to me that China is getting the coronavirus under control. I mean you look at the numbers, they're coming down day by day by day. And so I'm very optimistic there," Cook told Fox Business on Thursday.
"On the supplier side, we have suppliers you know, iPhone is built everywhere in the world. We have key components coming from the United States, we have key parts that are in China, and so on and so forth," he was quoted as saying.
Apple has begun reopening its retail stores in China and according to the company's regional Chinese website, 29 out of 42 stores were open for business on Monday.
The company earlier warned that coronavirus outbreak will affect its business in the January-March quarter as worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained.
Additionally in an investor update, the tech giant said it no longer expects to meet the revenue guidance it provided last month for the upcoming quarter.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the coronavirus outbreak has reached a "decisive point" and has "pandemic potential" as the toll in China, the deadly disease's country of origin, increased to 2,788 on Friday.
( With inputs from IANS )