2023-09-13 01:53:10
Analysts predict a busy 2024 for Apple as a significant portion of the approximately 1.2 billion iPhone owners worldwide are expected to renew their mobile in the next twelve months. It remains to be seen whether the new iPhone 15 with USB-C port and improved cameras will appeal to them.
In one of the many pre-recorded videos that made up the fall conference held by Apple in the Steve Jobs Theater, in its offices in Cupertino, CEO Tim Cook praised the significant impact that phones have on the daily lives of their users and watches in the colors of its brand.
He must hope for a similar impact on the stock market, where Apple’s stock has been battered since the Chinese government decided to ban the use of the iPhone to its civil servants. Apple will have to find its growth elsewhere.
That’s good. Analyst Dan Ives, from the American firm Wedbush, who has closely followed Apple for several years, thinks that the iPhone 15 might benefit in 2024 from a “supercycle” of renewal during which nearly a quarter of the 1.2 billion of iPhone owners in the world would be tempted to buy a new phone.
Apple therefore hopes to attract these potential buyers. The operation will be closely monitored by economists. Apple has the largest value on the American stock market. Its financial health is seen by many as a barometer of the health of the global consumer market.
The iPhone 15 in four flavors
The approximately 2,000 people present on site and the Internet users who followed the conference on the Internet therefore saw Apple present the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus, two phones whose dimensions do not change compared to the previous models, but which take elements previously exclusive to their more expensive Pro version.
Forced in this direction by a new European law, Apple is abandoning the Lightning connector exclusive to its mobiles for a more universal USB-C port, since it is the charging port found on almost all other devices electronics on the market.
Among other new features borrowed from last year’s Pro models, we find an interactive black bubble called Dynamic Island and located around the earpiece housed at the top of the 6.1 or 6.7 inch screen of this iPhone sold in two formats. Its camera is also enhanced: its sensor increases to 48 megapixels. Its software then optimizes the shot to create 12-megapixel resolution images that Apple says are sharper and more colorful, even in dark conditions.
The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were also revealed. These two are entitled to a thinner and more rigid titanium case. The newcomers break a tradition by dropping the mute key in favor of a key whose function can be customized in many ways.
As is tradition, their processors are more powerful. Their graphics are more detailed. Their cameras are more efficient. Apple goes so far as to claim that the iPhone 15 Pro can use its three lenses in such a way as to make its user believe that it actually has seven.
Apple is falling back on what it calls “computational photography,” the combination of image-editing algorithms included in its phone. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is also entitled to a new 5x periscopic lens, comparable to a 120 mm telephoto lens, rather than the 3x telephoto lens of the Pro itself. It’s not the 10x telephoto lens that some phones from Apple’s rival Asian brands have, but it’s a new milestone for the iPhone.
The iPhone 15 Pro can also create stereoscopic videos designed specifically for the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which will be released by Apple next spring.
A greener Apple Watch
On the accessories side, Apple wants to continue to convince consumers that its connected watch, the Apple Watch, is more than just a gadget. Supporting testimonies from people who have had their lives saved thanks to their watch, the company insists: the Watch is a health device in its own right.
Called Apple Watch Series 9, the new generation of the watch is the result of a relatively modest upgrade for this quite unique connected accessory. No other smartwatch offers the combination of services and connectivity that Apple has managed to cram into its little wrist computer. This includes quickly swapping one’s virtual business card from one watch to another, and an interface that replaces a larger gadget’s keyboard with voice and certain arm or hand gestures.
The Apple Watch Ultra is also revised. This is the $1,100 version designed to compete with high-end products from brands like Garmin and Polar, which specialize in sports and the outdoors. The newcomer is brighter and more versatile. Its autonomy, the shortest in the category, remains unchanged at 36 hours.
Apple took the opportunity to send a slightly stronger message than normal regarding its environmental responsibility. The company uses in particular recycled aluminum or produced without carbon emissions — among other things thanks to technology developed in Quebec. Like other American tech giants like Microsoft, Apple is committed to making its manufacturing processes carbon neutral by 2030.
Already, Apple ensures that its new Apple Watch Series 9 is “completely carbon neutral”. Cupertino is also stopping using leather, and incorporating more recycled plastic into its accessories.
Alain McKenna is Apple’s Alex Reed in California.
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