Apple to ship devices directly from stores

US multinational technology company Apple has decided to ship all the hardware products directly from its stores instead of local warehouses, in an effort to ensure a faster delivery process, reports The Verge.
The company had earlier used to send out its products from China or other warehouses.            `

The change will use Apple's nearly 300 stores in the US and Canada to speed up local delivery for customers within 100 miles of a store.

The company has already apparently started using the new system with several stores earlier this year, but the broader rollout is coming just ahead of Apple's upcoming iPhone launch next week (which is already taking place later than usual).

The shift is largely an internal one, so customers won't be able to choose the store from which their devices ship.

But using retail stores to facilitate faster shipping to customers could help get new iPhones in people's hands that much faster, especially at a time when those stores are seeing far less in-person traffic (or are closed altogether) due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.