What happened: Apple (AAPL) hosted its annual media event in Cupertino, Calif., where it unveiled a new line of iPhones, a new Apple Watch and more.
Why it matters: IPhones are the company’s biggest moneymaker, but sales have declined for the last three quarters in a row. Tim Cook et al badly need to reignite some excitement around their products.
Apple is releasing iOS 13 on September 19 as a software update for iPhone 6s models and later.
Major features include dark mode, a revamped Reminders app, and new efforts to address spam calls, such as sending calls from numbers that aren’t in your contacts straight to voicemail.
Here’s what else to expect with iOS 13.
Apple also said additional features will be available on September 30 with iOS 13.1, such as improvements to AirDrop.
The three cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max are able to record multiple videos at a time. The Pro is targeted at professional videographers and photographers but will help anyone shoot pro-quality photos and videos at twice as many frames per second, according to Apple (AAPL).
The Pro phone includes telephoto, wide and ultra-wide cameras and can also shoot in a new night mode that lets people capture images in lower light.
Apple announced three new iPhones on Tuesday. These are their prices:
Older models will be cheaper, too: iPhone 8 will now start at $449, while the iPhone XR will cost $599.
Apple TV+ will be the cheapest television streaming service on the market yet.
Investors and analysts were shocked when Disney announced in April that Disney+ would cost just $6.99 per month. But Apple said Tuesday that its service, which will stream original content with the likes of Oprah and Jennifer Anniston, will cost $4.99 per month when it launches November 1.
Here’s how it stacks up in the increasingly competitive TV streaming field:
Apple TV+: $4.99/month
Disney+: $6.99/month
Amazon Prime Video: $8.99/month
Starz: $8.99/month
CBS (No Ads): $9.99/month
Showtime: $10.99/month
Hulu (No Ads): $11.99/month
Netflix (Standard Plan): $12.99/month
HBO Now: $14.99/month. (HBO Max price not officially announced yet. Note: HBO and CNN are divisions of WarnerMedia.)
Total: $90.91/month
You don’t want to scratch your new iPhone 11! So Apple (AAPL) is launching a new line of iPhone cases that come in a wide range of colors.
iMeh? Apple didn’t launch anything all that exciting Tuesday that wasn’t expected. But that may not be a bad thing.
Shares of Apple (AAPL) were relatively flat before the unveiling of the iPhone 11 and other new products. The stock was still mostly unchanged as the event wore on.
But the reason Apple is up more than 35% this year has more to do with the company’s shift toward subscription services than new phones, iPads and Apple Watches. And Apple did deliver some compelling new services Tuesday at consumer-friendly prices.
Apple said its Arcade gaming subscription service, which launches on September 17, and its Apple TV+ lineup of original programs that will debut on November 1, will each cost just $4.99 a month.
And while Apple’s stock may not have done much Tuesday, investors in streaming rivals took notice of that low $4.99 price tag. Shares of streaming leader Netflix (NFLX) fell nearly 4% while shares of Disney (DIS), which will launch its $6.99 a month Disney+ service on November 12, were down more than 2.5%.
Every year when Apple unveils its latest line of iPhones it also announces a new bionic chip, and this year it’s called the A13.
Apple (AAPL) claims that iPhones powered by the A13 bionic chip are more powerful than the phones from Samsung, Google (GOOGL) and Huawei.
To prove this point, the company showed two bar charts – but they didn’t have an X or Y axis. It said that the iPhone XR has already surpassed the Samsung Galaxy S10+, Huawei P30 Pro and Google Pixel 3 in computing power. It added that in terms of graphics, the new iPhone 11 also beat all three competitors.
Is the new iPhone truly going to be faster and more powerful than other flagship smartphones? Without more data, it’s hard to take Apple’s claims at face value.
What do “3G,” S,” “C,” “Plus,” “S Plus,” “SE,” “X,” “R,” “S Max,” and “Pro” have in common?
They’re all suffixes Apple has added to identify its iPhones.
For 10 years, Apple (AAPL) had a two-year upgrade cycle: In the first year, Apple completely redesigned the iPhone. In the second year, the iPhone got some internal upgrades but remained the same on the outside.
That was true for the 3G / 3GS, 4 / 4S, 5 / 5S, 6 / 6S and X / XS.
But in other years, Apple bucked the trend. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 had the same design as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S, and there was no 7S or 8S. (There was no iPhone 9 at all).
The bigger versions of the iPhone were once “Plus,” and then they changed to “Max.”
The colorful, plastic one was the iPhone 5C. The low-cost iPhone was the SE.
The slimmed down, basic version of the iPhone last year was labeled “R,” and this year it’s just “11.” The souped up version is “Pro” this year (it was “S” last year).
Got all that?
That’s a lot less than folks were expecting. There are two reasons why Apple’s prices are surprisingly low.
1) As Apple’s hardware sales fall, the company is looking to expand its base, hitting the lower-end of the market by offering some cheaper products. It did the same thing with the iPod a decade ago, introducing the Mini, Nano and Shuffle versions of the MP3 player.
2) Apple (AAPL) needs subscribers to bolster its top line sales, which have been in a years-long slump. By charging just $5 each for Apple TV+ and Arcade, Apple is going to attract a larger group of people who will try out the new services.
True to rumors, the company showed off the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max – and these models are all about the camera. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, called the Pro models “the most powerful and most advanced iPhones we have ever built, with a stunning design.”
The devices come with three cameras on the back positioned in a square layout. It shoots nine images and Apple’s neural engine optimizes them together to get the best possible shot. “It is computational photography mad science,” an Apple exec told attendees.
Not surprisingly, the iPhone 11 Pro is faster and more efficient, too. Apple (AAPL) says the iPhone 11 Pro will last four hours longer than the iPhone XS and the iPhone 11 Pro Max will last five hours longer than the iPhone XS Max.
The iPhone 11 Pro line comes in a new color: green. You’ll be able to grab one in silver, space gray and gold, too.
The newest iPhones will be able to see in the dark. Apple (AAPL) just revealed that its iPhone 11 will have a Night Mode on its cameras.
The mode allows you to take shots in the dark, but have them appear well-lit. (Above left is a photo in the dark without night mode, and on the right is the same photo with night mode.)
Apple isn’t the first to do this. In November 2018, Google added a feature called Night Sight to its Pixel phones that does pretty much the same thing.
Now on to what we’ve been waiting for: Apple’s iPhone presentation. “It’s become so essential to people all over the world,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said. “It’s made a profound impact on our daily lives.”
What you need to know:
The iPhone 11, which looks nearly identical to last year’s line on the surface, features a 6.1-inch Retina display, spatial audio to create an immersive sound field around you and new cameras positioned on the back, including a new wide camera for faster auto-focus and an ultra wide camera for capturing more in photos. The selfie camera can now switch to landscape mode and take slow-motion shots.
The iPhone 11 is also getting new colors, including green, yellow and purple.
It starts at $699.
We just heard about the Apple Watch’s health impacts. Now we’re finding out what updates the hardware is getting: Apple Watch Series 5.
Series 5 will have a new Retina display that is always on. That means the watch face is always visible. It has 18 hours of battery life.
The cellular version has a new emergency SOS feature for when you’re traveling internationally to over 150 countries, where you can press and hold down the side button to contact emergency services – without needing your iPhone.
The GPS version starts at $399, while the cellular model costs $499. Series 5 is available starting today, and will hit stores on September 20. The Series 3 Watch will now cost $199.
Apple announced a release date — November 1 — and a price for its TV subscription service, $4.99.
For that price, it runs cheaper than competitors like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+. But it doesn’t have “Friends” to stream.
Instead, on Tuesday, Apple confirmed its lineup of original programming, including shows it had teased for months: Documentaries from Oprah Winfrey, a new Peanuts original called “Snoopy in Space” and “The Morning Show,” a drama that stars and is executively produced by Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.
This is expected to be the third straight year in which Apple (AAPL) maintains the current design of its iPhone. Yawn.
But one Apple bull thinks people won’t find the iPhone 11 to be boring at all. That’s because about 1/3 of the 900 million iPhone owners will be ready to upgrade their phones over the next year to 18 months, according to Dan Ives, Apple analyst at Wedbush Securities.
That’s a lot of iPhones. Suppliers are planning on selling about 75 million iPhone 11s this year, according to Ives. That’s slightly more iPhone XR and XS phones than Apple sold in 2018.
The Apple Watch portion of the event kicked off with a promotional video of customer testimonials about the real-world impact of wearing the device, from flagging early sides of a heart attack to helping a pregnant mother know she needed an emergency c-section. “Hearing these stories just make my heart sing,” Tim Cook told attendees.
The company also detailed how the Apple Watch is being used to in health research, including hearing, heart and fertility studies. A new research app called Studies, which will be open to Apple Watch users, will launch later this year.
Apple showed off its seventh generation iPad with its biggest display yet: a 10.2-inch Retina display.
Apple says it’s faster, supports a smart connector for keyboards and features more multitasking features. It’s also made of 100% recycled aluminum.
Cost? It will start at $329.
It’s available for pre-order now and will ship at the end of the month.
Apple’s (AAPL) stock was down just a hair as it started unveiling Arcade, a new iPad and a number of other products. Then it ticked higher.
Typically, on days when Apple launches a new iPhone, Apple’s stock has risen an average of 1.5% over the past seven years — since the iPhone 5 debut — according to Refiniiv.
The biggest iPhone launch stock move came on September 10, 2013, when shares fell 7.6%. That’s when Apple launched the disappointing 5C (the plastic one) and the iPhone 5S. So we’re not close to that today: Apple’s only down less than 0.1%.
The best day came on September 10, 2015, when Apple launched the iPhone 6S (the one with 3D Touch). Apple’s stock rose 3.7% that day.
We’ve now moved onto Apple TV+.
Tim Cook unveiled the trailer for Jason Momoa’s new show, ‘See.’
The first shows will be available on November 1, 2019. More will get added every month. Apple TV+ will be available in over 100 countries at launch, Cook says. It will cost $4.99 per month.
Apple wants to sell you video games.
Apple Arcade, a new subscription service, launches on September 19 and costs $4.99 a month. It provides access to a bunch of indie games and classic titles as well some from companies like Capcom and Annapurna.
While most mobile games are free to play and rely on a lot of in-game transactions to draw in revenue, Apple Arcade will be a premium option.
While iPhone revenue is on the decline, Apple has been leaning into services in the finance, publishing and entertainment industries.
