Apple Limits Online iPhone Purchases To Two After Closing All Stores Outside China

Apple Inc. AAPL has limited the number of iPhones customers can purchase online to two units in multiple countries, the checkout process on its website for the United States and other countries suggests.

What Happened

According to Reuters, which first reported the event, the sales have been limited in at least mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore in addition to the U.S. and Canada.

Apple had closed all its brick & mortar stores outside of China last week to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The move came a day after the Cupertino-based company reopened all its stores in China as the outbreak significantly slowed down in the country.

Nicole Peg, a research analyst at Canalys, told Reuters that Apple is likely limiting the sales to avoid hoarding and reselling of the iPhones by scalpers.

"This happened in the past in Asia when there is a new iPhone launch and scalpers saw an opportunity to sell to mainland China, where the new phones were harder to buy at the time," Peg said.

"Now that stores all over the world are closed, online scalpers see a similar opportunity."

Price Action

Apple stock closed 0.77% lower at $244.78 per share on Thursday. The shares traded 0.63% lower at $243.25 in the after-hours session.