san francisco Apple boss Tim Cook has had the company’s most important product overhauled. The new iPhone 15 has a brighter display, a harder titanium body and a faster processor. However, quite uncharacteristically for Apple, the company even lowered the starting prices for its devices.
Just a year ago, Apple had raised prices in Europe, some of them sharply. Now the company made the products a little cheaper. The cheapest iPhone 15 costs 949 euros – 50 euros less than the 14 model a year ago. The Pro entry-level model is 100 euros cheaper at 1199 euros, while the price of the large Pro Max remained unchanged at 1449 euros. In the USA, prices remained largely stable.
Analyst Francisco Jeronimo from market researcher IDC suspected Apple’s special strategy behind the move. “According to our calculations, Apple customers are keeping their iPhones longer and longer – on average 36 months,” Jeronimo told Handelsblatt. With the different pricing policy, Apple is trying to persuade customers to switch to modern devices. “You get significantly more performance for the same or even cheaper price,” said Jeronimo.
Around 250 million iPhone users have not yet switched to a better model over the past four years, said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. Apple’s new pricing policy could now lead to hesitant customers deciding on new devices.
Apple also promises improved performance for the iPhones of the 15th generation. The displays for all iPhones in the new series should provide higher brightness. At 2000 nits, Apple promises twice the brightness of the previous generation. This is intended to ensure that the cell phone display remains easy to read, even in bright sunlight.
A new, powerful chip called A17 is characterized primarily by a newly developed graphics unit that is intended to improve computer games and video editing. However, this is only used in the Pro and Max models. This also applies to the titanium casing. The standard iPhone 15 model uses the A16 chip, which was already used in the previous series.
The largest and most expensive iPhone model Pro Max will also be equipped with cameras with a special telephoto lens that will enable a five-fold optical zoom. In addition, three-dimensional recordings should be possible, which can then be viewed with the digital glasses announced for next year.
Apple is using USB-C in iPhones for the first time
An important innovation for users is likely to be one detail: Apple is saying goodbye to its Lightning port and switching to the global USB-C standard.
“These are the best iPhones we’ve ever produced,” Cook said. When the devices were presented at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, a pre-recorded video was shown. Apple made around half of its sales of around $400 billion in the last financial year with the iPhone. This makes the smartphone by far the tech company’s most important product.
More than a decade ago, Apple introduced the Lightning connector with the iPhone 5. There was already a lot of criticism when it was presented in 2012. Many other smartphone manufacturers have already switched to the USB port. But Apple stuck to its own system. This forced many Apple users to purchase special accessories for their Apple devices in order to be compatible with the Apple connector.
Meanwhile, USB-C had become the global standard. This applied not only to smartphones, but also to laptops, digital cameras and game consoles. iPhones were the big exception. In Europe, time for the Lightning connection was running out anyway. The European Commission has made USB-C the new standard and set a deadline of 2024. Now Apple is bending to the rules – not just in the EU, but worldwide.
Apple did not mention the EU in the presentation. The responsible manager, Kaiann Drance, however, presented the switch to USB-C as a sensible strategic decision. “USB-C is a global standard, so we are also bringing it to the iPhone 15,” said Drance.
USB-C not only offers higher data throughput, but also higher energy throughput. Data can therefore be transferred more quickly and the battery can be charged more quickly. The new USB port is said to offer a throughput of up to ten gigabits per second. This is up to 20 times faster than the previous Lightning connection. “The change was overdue,” said analyst Jeronimo.
Apple Watch: This is what the latest generation promises
Tim Cook also used the product presentation to revise the company’s watch range. The latest generation Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 get the new S9 chip. This should offer better performance. The display is slightly brighter than the previous generation with a luminance of 3000 nits. A new ultra-wideband chip should also offer new options for navigating in confusing situations or locating a lost iPhone.
Apple is also introducing a new gesture. By double-tapping the thumb and index finger, actions can be carried out on the Apple Watch, such as answering or hanging up phone calls. Apple calls the gesture “doubletap”.
Apple equips its watches with more powerful processors.
The starting price of the Apple Watch Series 9 is 449 euros. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is available from 899 euros.
Investors disappointed with product presentation
The presentation of Apple’s new products was not particularly well received on the stock market. Apple shares have temporarily lost more than two percent of their value. There is a risk of a decline in sales because, among other things, a shop with accessories depends on the Lightning connection. If Apple now switches to USB-C, customers can more easily use additional devices from other manufacturers.
Concerns about Apple’s most important sales country, China, also weighed on the share price. In the People’s Republic, civil servants could in future be banned from purchasing and using iPhones for official purposes. Photos of instructions from authorities circulated on social networks. There was initially no official confirmation. However, according to initial reports about developments in China at the end of last week, Apple shares had already lost around six percent of their value.
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