iPhone 13, iPad, AirPods and Watch

Apple on Tuesday celebrates its annual iPhone event, the company’s seventh consecutive virtual launch due to the ongoing pandemic. According to analysts, the company will introduce new iPhones and upgrades to its AirPods and Apple Watch.

Apple’s attractive fall releases are a peculiarity of the company. They attract media attention around the world, millions of viewers on YouTube and Apple’s website, and set the stage for a holiday marketing storm when Apple sales are highest .

All of Apple’s product segments have been torn apart this year as people continue to work from home. Last quarter, iPhone revenue rose 50 percent year-over-year, Mac revenue rose 16 percent year-over-year, and iPad revenue rose 12 percent year-over-year. Its “other products” business, which includes devices such as watches and AirPods, grew 40% year-over-year. Apple can keep up the momentum with a new list of new products before the holidays.

Last year, due to Covid, Apple unveiled its new watches in September and then followed that event with an October 12 iPhone event. The iPhone 12 introduced a new design and 5G.

The new iPad and MacBooks Pro laptops are also due to be updated this fall. It’s unclear whether Apple will include all of its fall releases in one launch event or whether it will distribute them in multiple streaming events, as it did last fall.

“Based on conversations with our research partners at Morgan Stanley’s Apple supply chain, we expect fall 2021 to be another period of product launches with the iPhone 13 family, the Apple Watch 7 , AirPods 3, new iPads and new MacBook Pros with M1 expected to be released before the end of the year, ”Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote in a note last week.

Here’s what Apple might launch on Tuesday:

Apple’s most important product is the iPhone, which accounts for half of Apple’s sales by 2020. The company has been announcing new models every September since 2012, until last year the iPhones were unveiled at the ‘October.

In 2020, Apple launched four iPhone models: a $ 599 smaller iPhone 12 mini, a $ 829 iPhone 12, a $ 999 higher iPhone 12 Pro, and a $ 1,2099 iPhone 12 Pro Max. All iPhone 12s had 5G connectivity and a new more square design.

Expect this year’s schedule to be similar to last year’s with the same screen sizes and prices. Research by TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, one of Apple’s top analysts, suggests that this year’s big change could be a lower cut-off at the top of the iPhone’s screen. which contains the facial recognition cameras of the device. The notch size has remained the same since it was introduced in 2017.

The new iPhones could also have larger batteries and a slightly heavier weight thanks to a new internal space-saving design, according to Kuo. In previous years, the new iPhones have come with camera and processor upgrades, and that’s almost certain this year, according to Kuo.

We still do not know what Apple will call the new iPhones. Apple has called some previous devices “S,” which means they have mostly internal changes, which would fit this year’s expectations. This means it could be called the iPhone 12s or it could be called the iPhone 13 if Apple decides that the changes are enough to justify it. We don’t know yet.

“Investors expect the iPhone 13 to be a more‘ evolving ’product cycle with fewer significant technology upgrades compared to the iPhone 12,” Huberty wrote.

Apple has been launching new Apple Watch models every September since 2016. It is a key product in Apple’s portable clothing business, which accounted for 11% of Apple’s sales in 2020.

Last year, Apple introduced the high-end 6 range and the mid-range Apple Watch. This year’s high-end Apple Watch will likely be called the Apple Watch Series 7. Kuo predicted last year that the 2021 models would be a “significant factor design change.”

The design will also include a slight increase in screen size, according to Bloomberg News, which would equate to 16% more pixels on the watch screen. Bloomberg said Apple will introduce new clock faces to take advantage of larger screens, including one that would allow the user to see all 24 time zones simultaneously.

Some Apple Watch models may be scarce due to production issues. Nikkei Asia said this month Apple delayed manufacturing due to assembly challenges. The report also suggested that Apple could add blood pressure detection this year, but said the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have said the feature will not arrive this year. Apple declined to comment on Watch production.

In recent years, when Apple has had trouble producing millions of devices before launch, it delayed the release date weeks or months after the launch launch. In 2017, for example, it announced the iPhone X in September, but didn’t ship it until November.

AirPods are a key component of Apple’s portable clothing business, which generated more than $ 30 billion in annual revenue in 2020, 25% more than the previous year.

While the product is of growing importance to Apple, the company has not launched new AirPods since October 2019, when it introduced the high-end AirPods Pro with a new design and noise cancellation. The latest $ 159 regular AirPods, with no noise cancellation, were announced in March 2019.

In a note to investors over the weekend, Kuo said Apple will launch new AirPods 3. He said Apple may continue to sell the current AirPods at a lower price. The redesign will likely make the AirPods look more like AirPods Pro, with a wider case and shorter stems, according to Bloomberg.

If Apple announces new iPads, it will highlight the importance the product has had for the company, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced people to work and learn from home and drive the sale of computers.

In the three quarters reported so far in Apple’s 2021 fiscal, the company has reported $ 23.6 billion in iPad revenue, up more than a 39% increase from the same period last year.

Apple last updated the iPad Air, a mid-range option, with a full-edge display in September 2020. Apple also updated the chip on its less expensive iPad, a $ 329 tablet it simply calls iPad, at the same event. These will be refreshed again this fall, although it’s unclear if this will happen on Tuesday or at a second event. But the iPad Mini, last updated in March 2019, is the one that has been delayed to update.

According to Bloomberg, the iPad Mini could have a redesign later this year to make it look more like its siblings. The report said it will not have a home button and will have a more square design like the iPad Air and Apple’s Pro. This means you could have a fingerprint reader on the power button like the iPad Air or Face ID like the iPad Pro.

This is a product event, so don’t expect any comments from Tim Cook on recent controversies, including his plan to scan iCloud uploads for illegal material, the recent mixed decision of the App’s lawsuit Store against Epic Games or thoughts on the company’s decision to delay the return to work in the office until next year.

However, Apple sometimes uses its iPhone releases to highlight projects that are not products the company is working on, such as its efforts to become carbon neutral across its entire supply chain. the next 10 years.

If Apple talks about its climate efforts, expect Vice President Lisa Jackson to address the public. Past events have also included musical guests or celebrity appearances.

Sometimes Apple launches new services at fall launches, such as Apple One, its subscription services package, which launched last year. But the big iOS update is announced in June, at the company’s developer conference, and is usually released to everyone in the fall.

There is another wildcard. Apple’s largest and fastest MacBook Pro laptop, the 16-inch model, hasn’t been updated since November 2019 and still features Intel processors, even when the company switches to its own chips in laptops and desktop computers.

However, in the last decade, Apple has not launched new Macs at the same event as the new iPhones. There may be a different event in October or November if there are new Macs in preparation for fall.