Pre-order your new iPhones from today
Launch of XS Max, XS and XR shows Apple is shifting course to a new strategy
Consumers in the UAE can pre-order the newly launched iPhones and the Series 4 watch from Apple from today with the phones and watch arriving in stores on September 21.
The much-awaited launch of Apple’s XS Max, XS, XR on Wednesday reveals that the tech giant is shifting course to a new strategy that is based less on product upgrades and more on clever pricing and myriad options for storage, colours and screen sizes.
Rather than persuading users to upgrade to the most-advanced, expensive phone each year, Apple’s goal these days is to steadily raise average prices, while expanding the total number of active devices to support sales of accessories and digital services like streaming music and video, industry observers said.
According to analysts, Apple’s moves will likely pay off financially, highlighting the company’s entrenched status as the top provider of consumer technology in the western world.
Apple’s secret weapon in its launch of three new smartphones on Wednesday isn’t any one particular feature, but a clever pricing strategy and myriad options for storage, colours, and screen sizes, say analysts.
“We all knew this was going to be a transitional but not transformational phone update,” said Trip Miller, managing partner at hedge fund Gullane Capital, which owns Apple shares.
The Cupertino, Californiabased technology giant took the wraps off the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, three new models based on the iPhone X design and feature set from last year.
The phones are all more expensive than last year’s models.
Apple is adjusting to a smartphone industry that has stalled at about 1.5 billion devices sold each year. Rather than persuading users to upgrade to the mostadvanced, expensive phone each year, Apple’s goal these days is to steadily raise average prices, while expanding the total number of active devices to support sales of accessories and digital services like streaming music and video.
“Apple’s focus appears to be shifting away from product replacement cycles and more towards profitability and services narrative, which is a positive in a mature smartphone market,” Amit Daryanani, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
Also launched was the Apple Watch Series 4.
“This is a pretty big deal,” said health care tech analyst Ross Muken at Evercore. “This update really establishes the company’s increasing efforts to push the watch as a serious medical device.” Shares of fitness device rival Fitbit Inc fell 6.9 per cent after the Series 4 announcement.
Research experts Gartner’s analyst Annette Zimmermann said at the event at Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters that Apple has “finally added a largerscreen phone so that they can directly compete with the Galaxy Note 9 products.” She was referring to rival Samsung Electronics, which has led the trend toward big-screen phones.
“The larger screen will be very important in China to turn around the trend there, because they have lost some share in the last few years, partly because of screen size,” she added.
The iPhone XS models un- veiled on Wednesday come with an “eSIM” feature that supports two cellular services and easier switching between carriers, but that technology won’t be available in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Instead, it will offer slots for dual physical SIM cards.
It’s rare for Apple to tailor its products for specific markets because it likes to standardise as much of its designs as possible to make manufacturing efficient. But the US company has much at stake in China, its largest market after the US as well as the main production base for the world’s iPhones and iPads.