The coronavirus outbreak has led to widespread factory shutdowns and manufacturing restrictions that could reschedule Apple's regular keynote

COVID-2019 has claimed more than 2,700 lives and infected more than 80,000 people The virus has also disrupted travel and complicated business activities abroad, expanding its global reach High-tech markets in particular are facing major disruptions, and the launch of one of the biggest products of the year, the iPhone 12, is in jeopardy

While this may seem far-fetched, as Apple's next-generation flagship was expected to launch in September, Reuters reports that the two-month factory closure and travel restrictions will affect the ability of the 2020 iPhone to arrive on a normal schedule The report says that this will have an impact on the ability of the iPhone to arrive on a normal schedule

According to supply chain experts and former Apple employees, this is the time of year when the company's engineers travel to China to map out prototype assembly lines Because Apple uses custom parts, February is an important month to finalize plans before full-scale manufacturing of the iPhone in the fall begins

Production of the iPhone 12 will not start up until the summer, but factory shutdowns and limited communication due to the coronavirus outbreak are expected to delay the normal schedule

"In the consumer electronics cycle, a two-month loss is very significant," a semiconductor company executive told Reuters

Apple declined to comment to Reuters, so it is unconfirmed that iPhone 12 production has been delayed However, the factory shutdown is cutting into the supply of current iPhones, and Virus has already had Apple issue a warning about missing revenue targets for March The company also closed its stores in China for several weeks last month and has since reopened only half of them

There are rumors that the iPhone SE 2, or iPhone 9, is also currently facing production delays Some indications point to a budget iPhone debuting at the end of March, but Apple has not even confirmed that such a device is in development

Apple is not the only tech company feeling the effects of the coronavirus outbreak Mobile World Congress, the industry's largest cell phone show, has been canceled after several prominent attendees pulled out of the event due to health concerns

The Game Developers Conference is also in limbo, with companies like Facebook and Sony (and its PS5) having already announced that they will not be attending the San Francisco-based show

Samsung, meanwhile, has been forced to shut down a factory that manufactures the Galaxy Z Flip after an employee contracted a virus