The new generation of iPhone is completely designed for Apple's intelligence, and it is another exciting new era! "On September 10th at 1am, Apple CEO Cook said at the company's" High Light Moment "autumn product launch event.
Shell Finance reporters noticed that at this press conference, Apple not only announced three upcoming new products including iPhone, Apple Watch Series 10, and AirPods 4 earphones, but also drew more attention from the industry to Apple Intelligence.
Official information shows that Apple Intelligence is a generative AI system based on personal scenarios, which can provide intelligent functions such as assistance and image creation. It will be released next month along with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, and will be available on platforms such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Although the empowerment of AI this time is seen by Apple as a "new era", and even for the first time in the 17 years since the release of the iPhone, software innovation rather than hardware upgrades has been the main driving force for annual replacement. But whether this blessing can truly initiate the "super upgrade cycle" of iPhone still needs to be tested by the market.
The capital market is not interested in Apple's new product launch event this time. During the press conference, Apple's stock price mostly fell. After the conference, as of the close, Apple rose slightly by 0.04%, closing at $220.910, with a total market value of $3.359 trillion.
The entire series adopts A18 chip, which means Apple's intelligent layout
As the most concerned protagonist among global fruit fans, iPhone 16 is undoubtedly the heaviest product at the press conference.
According to Apple's official announcement, this year Apple will launch four new models in the 16 series, including "iPhone 16," "16 Plus," "iPhone 16 Pro," and "16 Pro Max," continuing to create differentiation in size and functionality to meet the needs of different users.
Although the appearance of the new iPhone is quite similar to previous generations, the screen size of the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max has increased from 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches to 6.3 and 6.9 inches, respectively, and the bezels will be reduced by about one-third.
In terms of hardware, all four products in the iPhone 16 series use the A18 chip. However, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are equipped with the A18 chip, and the memory has been upgraded from 6GB to 8GB. The iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are equipped with the more powerful A18 Pro chip.
Apple stated that compared to the A16 Bionic chip in the previous generation iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, the newly upgraded A18 chip has improved CPU performance by 30%. In addition, GPU speed can be increased by up to 40%, and energy efficiency can be improved by up to 35%.
The standard 8GB of RAM across the entire range is the first of its kind among Apple products. This behavior is seen by the industry as perhaps a layout to support the use of Apple's artificial intelligence feature Intelligence and other functions in iPhone 16 series phones.
Apple urgently needs to reconfirm its strength in betting on the AI track
In addition to hardware upgrades, the iPhone 16's most anticipated feature this time is its Apple Intelligence, which has been promoted since the World Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year.
In the video at the press conference, Apple demonstrated several features of "Apple Intelligence". This includes combining users' personal data such as photos, memories, calendars, and memos to provide intelligent services through generative models; Convert drafts into beautifully worded text, easily create new emoticons and generate original images, and integrate them into messaging apps; Help users quickly obtain environmental information through camera control; Siri is also more natural, flexible, and deeply integrated with the system experience.
Apple is fully betting on the smart race track, with its own logic.
As a globally renowned IT company, Apple's artificial intelligence technology has been in its early stages for a long time. This has been criticized by the industry and users, and it needs to prove its strength to investors and consumers. On the other hand, facing the pressure of slowing iPhone sales growth, Apple naturally hopes to attract users to upgrade their devices through its smart software, thereby helping to increase sales.
Although the empowerment of AI this time is seen by Apple as a "new era", and even for the first time in the 17 years since the release of the iPhone, software innovation rather than hardware upgrades has been the main driving force for annual replacement. But whether AI can truly initiate the "super upgrade cycle" of iPhone still needs to be tested by the market.
Taking its main competitor Samsung as an example, it had previously vigorously promoted the AI function of mobile phones, but the effect was not significant. According to Cliff Maldonado, Chief Analyst at BayStreet Research, "AI functionality has not yet resonated with the public. According to a survey by market research firm Canalys, only 7% of consumers are highly inclined to purchase smartphones based on AI features.
According to Bloomberg's well-known technology journalist Gulman, Apple's intelligence is not yet fully mature. ChatGPT will not be integrated into Apple Intelligence until later this year, while all major new features of Siri will not be released until next year, and the AI image generation function will also be postponed until next year.
The release time and specific effects of intelligent functions are subject to variables, undoubtedly challenging the traditional understanding of market cycles and consumer patience.
However, what domestic fruit enthusiasts find difficult to accept is that despite Apple's official statement that the smart software will be released with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 starting next month. But according to Apple's schedule, Apple Intelligence will support American English when it is released, and will expand to localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK in December. It will not support more languages such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish until next year.
Although there are various AI functional gimmicks, it is impossible to experience them at the first time. So why not wait until next year when new models are released and software technology is more mature before purchasing? "Said a netizen.
Can the continuous decline in sales of iPhone 16 in Greater China be reversed
On August 2nd, Apple released its financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2024 (Q2 2024). In the second quarter of 2024, Apple achieved revenue of $85.777 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.87%, and analysts expected it to be $84.46 billion; The net profit was 21.448 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 7.88%.
Although Apple achieved dual growth in revenue and profit globally in the second quarter, its core product iPhone revenue continued to decline. During this period, iPhone business revenue was 39.296 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 0.94%. The revenue of the Greater China region was 14.728 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 6.53%. What worries Apple even more is that this is the fourth consecutive quarter of revenue decline in the Greater China region.
What Apple has to accept is that the iPhone is facing increasing competition and challenges in the Chinese market. Public information shows that iPhone shipments in the second quarter decreased by 3.1%, dropping out of the top five in the Chinese market sales ranking. Ranked behind domestic brands such as Vivo, OPPO, Honor, Huawei, and Xiaomi.
In fact, since the launch of the iPhone 12 with 5G support in 2020, Apple's subsequent models have mostly been similar in appearance and main functions, and even ordinary consumers cannot perceive their obvious differences. When consumers cannot provide convincing reasons for changing phones, it naturally leads to a sustained decline in iPhone sales in recent years.
According to Morgan Stanley analysts, the introduction of Apple Intelligence to iPhone 16 can help unleash suppressed demand and accelerate the iPhone replacement cycle.
Prior to the press conference, analyst Guo Mingchi from Tianfeng International released a production report on the iPhone 16/Pro series. The estimated shipment of iPhone 16 series in 2024 has been raised from 87 million to 88 million units to 88 million to 89 million units, with the main increase coming from the standard version of iPhone 16. Guo Mingchi predicts that the iPhone 16 Standard Edition, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max will account for approximately 26%, 6%, 30%, and 38% of iPhone 16 series shipments in 2024, respectively.
New Beijing News Shell Finance Reporter Qin Che