iPhone 12 launch shouldn't be a COVID-19 superspreader event - CNET

Commentary: Waiting in the usual hyped-up Apple store line isn't worth the risk of getting the coronavirus.

Every fall, Apple fans dependably line up at marquee stores like Manhattan's famed Apple Fifth Avenue Cube, spending days in folding chairs for a chance to be one of the first to get their hands on a new iPhone.

That throws into question whether people should show up at Apple stores at all. .

Apple has spent years building up its online presence and working with its carrier partners to allow you to activate wireless service online, and now you can chat or call a retail specialist, removing the need for people to physically show up at stores aside from pickups (You should call your local Apple store to see what options it offers).

For the most part, you haven't needed to line up for a long time, and Apple is offering even more options this year.

What's left has been a mix of hardcore Apple fans who want the glory and publicity of being first in line -- knowing the media will dependably be there to interview them -- tourists waiting in line to snag the phone because their home country won't have it for a few weeks and enterprising, cash-carrying buyers looking to quickly flip the devices on the secondary market. .

But these lines are just a showy demonstration of the loyalty of Apple's fanbase and the kind of draw products like a new iPhone can still have -- even if they don't really offer any real insight into what broader demand for these products actually looks like.

In an era when social distancing and masks are literally the difference between life and death, the typical lines at Apple stores shouldn't exist. .

I say this knowing that there will inevitably be lines forming at Apple stores, many of which are open around the world.

Apple will enforce strict social distancing protocols, which means those lines that used to span the block will extend even further as people stay at least six feet away from each other. .