National Post (National Edition)
APPLE UNVEILS CELLULAR WATCH, $1,000-iPHONE AS RIVALS GROW.
Company’s first major redesign since 2014
CUPERTINO, CALIF. • Apple Inc. unveiled its most important new iPhone for years to take on growing competition from Samsung Electronics Co., Google and a host of Chinese smartphone makers.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook showed off the iPhone X with an edge-to-edge screen during an event at the company’s new $5 billion headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Tuesday. Cook pronounced the name “ten,” but it’s written as “X.” The device, coming a decade after the original model, is Apple’s first major redesign since 2014 and represents a significant upgrade to the iPhone 7 line.
Apple shares have gained about 40 per cent this year on expectations the new phone will reignite sales growth after a rare revenue decline last year. Shares were largely unchanged Tuesday, losing 0.4 per cent to US$160.82.
The iPhone accounts for almost two-thirds of total sales, and it’s a hub for most of Apple’s other products and services.
The iPhone X is expected to cost about US$1,000, a pricey psychological threshold for consumers that Apple will try to overcome with augmented reality features and other new technology.
“With expected innovations around AR, wireless charging, viewable screen size, OLED, and more, the next iPhone is clearly poised for its largest upgrade cycle yet,” Ben Schachter, an analyst at Macquarie Securities USA Inc., wrote in a note to investors ahead of the event.
Cook called it “the biggest leap forward” since the first iPhone. In addition to the edge-to-edge screen, it loses the home button, which revolutionized smartphones when it launched; and will use facial recognition to unlock the phone.
Apple also unveiled a new iPhone 8 and a larger 8 Plus with upgrades to cameras, displays and speakers.
Those phones, Apple said, will shoot pictures with better colours and less distortion, particularly in low-light settings. The display will adapt to ambient lighting, similar to a feature in some iPad Pro models. Speakers will be louder and offer deeper bass.
Both iPhone 8 versions will allow wireless charging, a feature thought to be limited to the anniversary phone. Many Android phones, including Samsung’s, already have this.
This is the first product event for Apple at its new spaceship-like headquarters in Cupertino. Before getting to the new iPhone, the company unveiled a new Apple Watch model with cellular service and an updated version of its Apple TV streaming device.
The iPhone X costs twice what the original iPhone did. It sets a new price threshold for any smartphone intended to appeal to a mass market.
The new Watch has builtin cellular service. The number on your phone will be the same as your iPhone. The Series 3 model will also have Apple Music available through cellular service.
“Now, you can go for a run with just your watch,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer and in charge of Watch development.
Apple is also adding more fitness features to the Watch, and says it is now the most used heartrate monitor in the world. Now, Apple Watch will notify users when it detects an elevated heart rate when they don’t appear to be active. It’ll also detect abnormal heart rhythms.
The Series 3 will start at US$399. One without cellular goes for US$329, down from US$369 for the comparable model now. The original Series 1, without GPS, sells for US$249, down from US$269. The new watch comes out Sept. 22.