Apple's Upcoming Event: A New Era of AI-Powered iPhones
Apple has sparked excitement among its fanbase with the preview of its "Apple Intelligence" AI system earlier this year. The company is now poised to demonstrate the practical application of this technology. Scheduled for its annual hardware showcase, which begins on Monday at 1 p.m. ET, Apple is expected to debut the inaugural series of iPhones specifically tailored for generative AI capabilities, allowing for the creation of text and images. The live event can be viewed .
The event's teaser, "it's glow time," has been shrouded in mystery, with Apple maintaining a tight lid on its meaning. The company is under significant pressure to validate the worth of the new AI functionalities and other enhancements to the iPhone 16, justifying the investment for an upgrade. Moreover, Apple is tasked with assuring investors that it remains at the forefront of AI innovation, as competitors have already integrated similar features into their latest tech offerings.
Ever since the introduction of the iPhone 12 with 5G in 2020, there has been a scarcity of compelling reasons for users to acquire the latest models. Smartphone cameras have reached a level of advancement that meets the everyday needs of most users without the need for substantial hardware upgrades. Additionally, there comes a point where the human eye can no longer discern higher screen resolutions.
This stagnation has led to a slowdown in iPhone sales, which constitute half of Apple's revenue. Similarly, the company's stock had been relatively flat until the unveiling of Apple Intelligence, indicating that investors are banking on AI to drive new iPhone purchases. Since the June 10 event, Apple's stock has risen by 14%, and it's up nearly 18% year-to-date.
If Apple can successfully execute its vision, it stands to gain significantly—according to a research note from Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, approximately 300 million iPhones globally have not seen an upgrade in over four years.
While Apple is likely to highlight updates to a variety of products and services, such as AirPods or even Apple TV+, on Monday, "everything revolves around the iPhone upgrade cycle. All else is secondary," said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria in an interview with .
Whether a subplot or the main event, here's what we anticipate from the Apple showcase:
Apple has already dropped hints about the potential capabilities of Apple Intelligence: it will facilitate more fluid interactions with Siri, assist in composing emails, simplify the process of locating specific photos, and integrate personal user information into its responses. The company's challenge on Monday will be to illustrate how these features will manifest in real-world scenarios.
"Look forward to demonstrations on how you can receive summaries within your text conversations," Luria suggested. "You'll be able to inquire about the reason behind a disagreement between two individuals and receive an answer directly within the chat. These are the types of features that will excite users and show tangible examples of how Apple Intelligence can enable tasks that were previously unattainable."
It's customary for new iPhone models to feature an upgraded processor, but this year's iteration may be particularly crucial to ensure that the iPhone 16 can manage the increased data processing demands of the new AI features without sacrificing battery life.
Speculated that there might be a subtle redesign of the iPhone's appearance, such as a broader screen or refined edges, "to emphasize the significance of the upgrade cycle."
"There should be a distinctive feature of the new iPhones that communicates to consumers, 'I possess the latest iPhone, and you do not,' a sentiment that has been absent for the past four years," he remarked.
According to a reportt, the iPhone 16 is also expected to include a dedicated camera button.
A significant question leading up to Monday's event is the pricing strategy for the iPhone 16 series. For the past four years, the starting price for new iPhone models at launch has been $799.
There has been an ongoing debate among Apple enthusiasts about whether iPhone models should be more affordable, while investors naturally prefer to maximize profits.
Many analysts, including Angelo Zino from CFRA Research, believe that Apple could moderately increase prices "across the board" for the iPhone lineup due to the new AI features and the associated costs of implementing them.
However, it's highly unlikely that there will be a significant price increase, as "they don't want to dampen customer enthusiasm due to sticker shock."
There are also rumors that Apple may announce updates to the Apple Watch and AirPods. The Apple Watch Series 10 is anticipated to be more slender than its predecessors, yet with a larger display, and the company is expected to introduce new budget and mid-range AirPod options, as reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
These updates would follow the new software features for both devices that Apple revealed at its annual developers conference in June.
AirPods users will reportedly be able to answer or decline calls with a simple nod or headshake. Meanwhile, the new vital sign tracking on Apple Watch can alert users when they might be falling ill, based on indicators such as body temperature and heart rate.
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