Taking a look back at another week of news and headlines from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop looks at next week’s launch of the new iPhones, support for Apple Pencil, key benchmarks leak, iPhone SE successor revealed, more MacBook Pro bans, sleep tracking on the Apple Watch, and a titanium look at the Apple Card.
Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).
Get Ready To Hear Every Surprise You Already Know
Tuesday will see Tim Cook take to the stage in Apple’s traditional September event. Along with updates to the Apple Watch and MacBook line up, the new iPhone family will be revealed (or at least confirmed, almost every detail is already known). Larry Dignan looks at what to expect, what not to expect, and the elephant in the room:
At the event, it is widely expected that Apple will unveil three new iPhones including a Pro version that will have triple cameras. What is likely missing is a 5G iPhone.In other words, expectations for Apple's new iPhones are pretty low. It's a gap year for smartphones and 5G is a big reason why. Whether it's Samsung, Apple or any other smartphone maker, tech buyers are likely to hold out for compatibility with the latest network. In addition, high prices for premium devices are stretching out the upgrade cycle.
Revenue Reasons For The Apple iPhone Pencil
Also leaking this week is the expectation that Tim Cook will finally bring Cupertino’s stylus to the iPhone. The Apple Pencil was introduced with the iPad Pro, but has not moved to the smartphone since then. With Apple chasing higher and higher revenue per customer, is it now time to play this card? I looked at the financial benefit to Apple earlier this week:
The iPhone 11 Pro Max will be the most expensive iPhone yet, which means that it will have one of the highest margins of Apple’s smartphones on a per user basis. As sales fall, Apple needs to counter that by increasing the average revenue per user. One of the long term plans for this is an increase in subscription based services, another is to raise margins and increase the attachment rate of peripherals.
I would suggest that this is the Apple Pencil’s role. Those who want the $99 peripheral are going to need to purchase the highest priced model, then purchase the stylus separately. That boosts Apple’s bottom line, it hands Tim Cook and his team a talking point at the event, and it provides momentum to the iPhone family in the face of Android devices that genuinely push the envelope