When Apple will launch the new iPhone models on Tuesday, analysts say the biggest challenge will be over another boring launch, as the competing producers have surpassed it in terms of artificial intelligence in their products and services, reports Reuters.
This year's biggest attraction could be the confirmation of rumors about “iPhone Air”, a thinner phone than those previously sold by Apple and which takes its name from the company's thin laptop, MacBook Air.
Apple needs to find a solution to integrate batteries and rooms into a thinner device and try to sell it at a price between the iPhone 17 basic models and the more expensive Pro models, to attract a large number of customers, say analysts,
Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president and main analyst at Forrester, said a thinner iPhone could stimulate Apple customers to change their phones.
“It has been a while since I saw no significant change in the form factor of the device, apart from small and insignificant changes, and the novelty of the Air will probably determine many iPhone 14, 15 and even 16 users to it,” Chatterjee said.
The thinner phone could also be a step forward to an iPhone that folds like a book and could serve as a platform for an updated Siri, but none of them will be available until next year, analysts said.
Samsung Electronics is in the seventh generation of foldable phones, and Alphabet is in the third generation, but Chatterjee estimates that they represent less than 2% of the total sales of phone and will not increase over 5% “in the near future”.
A foldable phone is important for Apple to attract customers from China, where consumers appreciate foldable devices, and the company has lost the market share, analysts said.
Historically, the company based in Cupertino, California, has obtained almost a quarter of the total sales in the medium-priced iPhone segment, said Gene Muster, a partner at Deepwater Asset Management, which has Apple shares.
He expects Apple to find a way to increase prices for the entire range of iPhone without alluding to the rates imposed by the US President Donald Trump, perhaps by increasing prices for higher storage capacities.
“They have learned to behave beautifully with Washington-a direct increase in prices may not be well received,” Munster said. “But I think they have increasing costs and have been loyal to higher margins, and to do this, you have to find a method,” he added.
Apple problems with ai
Initially, Apple had planned improvements for Siri in the spring of last year, but postponed them due to technical problems. Instead, it was based on a partnership with Openai, Creator Chatgpt, to feed many functions on his devices.
In contrast, Google's latest flagship phones have been largely designed to present the capabilities of its models.
Apple is also in preliminary discussions to use Gamini from Google to revive Siri, according to recent press materials
Ben Bajarin, CEO of the Creative Strategies technology consulting company, said Apple could highlight the improved processing capabilities of the new generation of Apple Silicon chips, which could, in the future, feed an “agent” that deals with tasks in the background for the owners of the 2.35 billion Apple devices used.
“It could be a sign of an integration of the agent you have more than their operating system, because the operating system will be the one that will affect the most (the processing capacities of the chip),” Bajarin said.
Bob O'Donnell, president at Technnalysis Research, said that although the adoption is still in early stages, the time Apple has to recover the gap without suffering a long -term regress is probably measured in months, not in Anis.
“They have a huge market share in the US, and most people are perfectly satisfied,” he said. “But if Siri will still be weak next year and if they will not launch the foldable phone, I don't know” if this satisfaction will continue, “O'Donnell said.
