Apple Predicts ‘Global Warming’ Will Increase iPhone Demand

Apple expects greater demand for iPhones as a result of global warming according to a report assessing the impact of climate change on its business.

“Mobile devices can serve as the backbone communication network in emergency and quasi-emergency situations,” Apple wrote in its report, released Tuesday.

“They can serve as a flashlight or a siren; they can provide first aid instructions; they can act as a radio; and they can be charged for many days via car batteries or even hand cranks,” it said. “Over time, as people begin to experience severe weather events with greater frequency, we expect an increasing need for confidence and preparedness in the arena of personal safety and the well-being of loved ones.”

“This potential need reinforces a trend we believe is already in evidence following the events of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, and Hurricane Harvey,” it said.

Apple is one of many large companies to investigate and identify “climate-related” risks and opportunities that could impact their firms, Business Insider reported.

Moreover, Apple said that a rise in the number of severe weather events could increase the demand for iPhones because of special features that help people cope with threatening situations.

Features like “SOS,” which facilitates contacting emergency services, could lead to “increased customer loyalty and demand,” Apple said.

“Over the past few years, for example, we enabled iPhone to receive Wireless Emergency Alerts, including alerts from the National Weather Service and local law enforcement,” Apple wrote. “These alerts also appear on Apple Watch. We also offer a free ‘find friends’ app, and a fast-access flashlight.”

All in all, the economic benefits from climate change could be as high as $920 million,” Apple estimated.

On the downside, Apple said that severe weather events brought on by climate change could “strain the infrastructure systems” that undergird Apple production and marketing, the company said.

Over the past several years, global warming has been blamed for a remarkable number and variety of events and situations.

Manmade global warming was responsible for everything from the mass death of migratory songbirds to the decimation of 80,000 reindeer to a slump in South American coffee production to a drop in the population of Hawaiian monk seals and even — remarkably — to colder winters, reports suggest.

Climate change was blamed moreover for the creation of “ghost forests” along the U.S. Atlantic seaboard in 2017, despite the fact that the process has “occurred naturally for thousands of years.”

Last year, musician Stevie Wonder said that global warming had caused the cancer that killed legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin in August, while suggesting that climate change skeptics share the responsibility.

In 2008, veteran Loch Ness monster hunter Robert Rines gave up his search for Nessie after 37 years.

Abandoning his quest at the age of 85, Mr. Rines said that the trail of the monster had gone cold and he believed that it had probably been killed by global warming.

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