Apple Announces New Devices
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) revealed its new iPhones during its launch event on Tuesday, September 14. This event was held virtually in California, and the new devices that the company featured were its iPhone 13 smartphone line, new iPad, iPad Mini, and Apple Watch Series 7.
But just like the past few years, there weren’t really any groundbreaking design changes or features. It’s been a while since Apple has had drawn excitement for new devices, features, or operating systems. There was a list of potential upcoming changes — like a faster processor, improved camera capabilities, and longer-lasting battery life — but no concrete timeline for any of them.
Earlier this month, Apple’s shares hit an all-time high. However, since then the company has already dealt with some legal pressure, not to mention security breaches, which had shares trading at levels well below its all-time high. With the announcement of its new devices, Apple is most likely hoping to return to all-time highs for its shares and sales.
The iPhone 12 was one of the first smartphones to come with 5G capability, which could be one reason why it was a huge hit. In Apple’s most recent quarter, it reported a near 50% year-over-year increase in iPhone sales — $39.6 billion. In July, CEO Tim Cook said:
We continued to be heartened by our customers’ response to the iPhone 12 lineup. We’re only in the early innings of 5G.
While the iPhone 12 lineup had something new going for it, this new iPhone 13 lineup of devices doesn’t necessarily have anything too exciting that would make people trade in their old phones for one of the latest devices. This could mean that Apple will not see as great a sales number from its new iPhone 13 lineup as it did from its iPhone 12 devices.
Could Apple’s Launch Help its Stock Gain Momentum?
As I mentioned earlier, the company has been dealing with legal issues and uncertainty. A U.S. judge ruled last week that the company could no longer prohibit app developers from directing users to payment options outside the App Store. In addition to that, Apple has been faced with allegations and controversy pertaining to its approach to combating child exploitation.
All this negative publicity didn’t seem to benefit this launch event where the company was most likely hoping to excite people and bring in sales for its new devices. It wasn’t just the new iPhone 13 devices that Apple announced. The company also announced its iPad Mini, new Apple Watch Series 7, and new iPad.
In addition to the devices, it revealed its new Fitness+ expansion, which is Apple’s workout subscription service. The workout service will be expanding internationally and will be available in new languages. Focusing and expanding on Fitness+ will allow the company to stay ahead on trends in health and wellness, which is a market that continues to grow as more and more people become conscious of their health and begin to take steps to be proactive about it.
Apple will be adding workouts for winter sports along with social features called Group Workouts. It will also be incentivizing Fitness+ by bundling three-month trials with new Apple Watches. Shares of other wellness brands like Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON) and WW International (NASDAQ: WW) were down after Apple’s launch event.
Before the event even happened, 352,908 people were already streaming the event on YouTube. Last year, more than 1.5 million people tuned in to Apple’s September livestream launch.
The company still has the ability to generate some publicity and excitement around these launch events that usually happen in September, which means that people and consumers are still paying attention to Apple and its plans for future growth and sustaining its dominance over many technology devices while also expanding in new markets.
As of the close of the market on Tuesday, September 14, shares of Apple were slightly down from where they were at the open of the market.
Until next time,
