Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Your next Apple Store visit will be unlike any you have made before

Apple’s head of retail has explained to customers how it plans to open its brick-and-mortar stores following their closure in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter posted on its website on Sunday, May 17, Deirdre O’Brien, the tech company’s senior vice president of retail and people, detailed new procedures for its more than 500 sites globally that will be in place for the foreseeable future.

The new setup means that everyone inside an Apple Store — whether customers or staff — will be required to wear a face covering. If a customer arrives without a covering, staff will provide one, O’Brien said.

Temperature checks will be carried out at the door, and customers will be asked several health questions to check if they have any symptoms associated with the virus, or if they’ve knowingly been in contact with anyone infected with the condition.

Enhanced deep cleans in the stores will also be performed throughout the day on all surfaces, display products, and highly trafficked areas.

The executive explained that each newly reopened store would also be looking to limit the number of people allowed inside in order to enable social distancing, suggesting that some customers may have to wait outside if a store starts to fill up.

Other measures include a greater emphasis on curbside pick‑up and drop-off for ordered items. “If you choose to buy online, we can ship to your home or make your new items available for convenient pick‑up at our stores,” O’Brien said, at the same time reminding customers that some issues can still be resolved without a store visit via its online and phone-based support services.

Apple has so far reopened about 100 of its retails stores globally, including U.S. stores in Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama, and Alaska.

“Our commitment is to only move forward with a reopening once we’re confident we can safely return to serving customers from our stores,” O’Brien wrote in the letter. “We look at every available piece of data — including local cases, near and long‑term trends, and guidance from national and local health officials. These are not decisions we rush into, and a store opening in no way means that we won’t take the preventative step of closing it again should local conditions warrant.”

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Report: iMac powered by Apple Silicon could hit stores next year
Adobe Lightroom CC iMac

Much has been written about the first Apple Silicon Macs, widely expected to be in the form of MacBooks to be unveiled at an upcoming event this November. Yet according to China Times, the iMac could also be outfitted with an Apple Silicon processor as soon as early next year. With that November event on the horizon, we may even see it announced next month.

The report specifically cites 2021 as a possible release date for the Apple Silicon iMac, saying it will run a variant of the A14 Bionic chip (seen in the iPhone 12 range and the 2020 iPad Air) called the A14T, currently codenamed ‘Mt. Jade.’ Like the A14, the A14T will be made using a 5nm process, allowing for greater performance while consuming less power, and will be produced in the first half of the year. Depending on when production begins, it is possible the iMac itself could launch in the first half of 2021.

Read more
You’ve had Apple Silicon in your Mac for years, and it’s called the T2 chip
Apple T2 iMac Chip

The Intel era of Mac computers is coming to an end, and for good reason. In the past five years, MacBooks and iMacs have had a harder time standing out from the competition than Apple products normally do. After all, if Macs use all of the same components that other laptops do, what sets them apart? Apple has its own software in MacOS, yes, but from a hardware perspective, there are limitations.

That's where the T2 chip came into play. From the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro to improved webcams and speakers on the latest iMac, the T2 chip has been the magic behind the Mac for years. It was the Apple Silicon before Apple Silicon existed -- and it just might give us a preview of the future of the Mac.
The humble beginnings of Apple Silicon

Read more
Apple could end antitrust woes by making the iOS App Store more like the Mac’s
iphone xr app store

Apple is having a pretty terrible time right now amid multiple antitrust hearings and a wave of discontent over the fees it charges developers to use its App Store. It all culminated last week with the controversy of Fortnite being removed from the App Store altogether.

But there is one solution that could potentially end Apple’s woes and deal a blow for consumers and developers at the same time: Make the iOS App Store more like the Mac App Store. It is not such a crazy idea. After all, Apple already has looser restrictions on its Macs than on its iPhones. Here’s why it could be exactly what Apple needs to do.
The problem: Apple’s arbitrariness

Read more