Apple debuted a latest Series 9 Watch with a more powerful processor on Tuesday ahead of an expected announcement concerning the iPhone 15 with latest charging ports and higher cameras – and possibly higher prices for top models.
CEO Tim Cook also said Apple is “on the right track” to ship its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset early next 12 months.
The event at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters comes amid a world smartphone slump and lingering economic uncertainty, especially in China, Apple’s third-largest market where it faces challenges from expanded restrictions on using its iPhones in government offices and the primary latest flagship phone in several years from Huawei Technologies.
Apple can also be expected to debut latest AirPods models on the event, however the star of the show shall be the iPhone, which still made up greater than half of Apple’s $394.3 billion in sales last 12 months.
By far the largest change for many Apple customers shall be a switch from Apple’s propriety “Lightning” charging cables to USB-C, a normal that Apple already uses on its laptops and a few high-end iPads.
Apple was forced into the change by European regulations, but analysts consider that the corporate will position the change as an upgrade, making the most of faster data speeds that may transfer high-quality videos made with iPhones.
Analysts are also expecting a latest “periscope” camera technology that might give phones higher zoom capabilities and titanium cases, in addition to upgraded chips. Such “periscope” lenses can use mirrors or prisms to get an extended lens without having to make the camera module much larger.
The most important query of the day shall be whether Apple reserves those features for a latest top-end device and makes smaller upgrades to its cheaper models.
“Similar to we saw individuals who aren’t Ultra athletes buy the Apple Watch Ultra, we’re going to see a bunch of individuals buy this even in the event that they aren’t camera or photography enthusiasts, simply because they like the newest and best,” said Ben Bajarin, chief executive and principal analyst of Creative Strategies. “That by itself creates that buzz and momentum and allure to the highest end.”
Apple is anticipated to extend the typical price per phone sold to spice up its revenue, however the query is whether or not it does that by raising prices across the board or simply on premium versions.
The worldwide smartphone market has slumped from shipping 294.5 million total phones to 268 million within the second quarter, but Apple’s shipments declined the least of any major smartphone maker, dropping from 46.5 million phones to 45.3 million, based on data from Counterpoint Research.
“The reality of the matter is, we’re in a really down smartphone market,” said Bob O’Donnell, head of TECHnalysis Research.
O’Donnell said he can even be looking out for any hints about Apple’s plans with what’s often called generative artificial intelligence, the technology trend behind applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s “Copilot” assistant technologies for its Office software.
Analysts have repeatedly prodded Apple about its plans for such technology but the corporate has given few hints to date, aside from Chief Executive Tim Cook’s comments in July that the corporate’s secret work on the technology is driving up its research spending.
“Will Apple tease a complicated type of Siri? That will be something that might generate some excitement,” O’Donnell said.
