AApple Inc. is looking to hold a Sept. 7 launch event to introduce the iPhone 14 lineup, according to people familiar with the matter, releasing the latest version of a product that generates more than half of its sales.
The new iPhones will kick off a busy fall product season that will also include a slew of new Macs, low-end and high-end iPads, and three Apple Watch models.
Apple is revamping its flagship product at an uncertain time for the industry. Smartphone sales have begun to decline as consumers deal with inflation and a shaky economy. But Apple appears to be doing better than its peers: The iPhone sold well last quarter, and the company has signaled to suppliers that it doesn’t foresee a drop in demand.
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant usually announces other products alongside the iPhone, including the latest Apple Watches. The company usually puts the new iPhone in stores about a week and a half after its launch, and Apple is expected to stick with that pattern this year. Some employees at retail stores have been told to prepare for a big new product launch on September 16.
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Apple gained nearly 1 percent to $174.54 in New York trading. Shares remain down 2% this year, although they have climbed back after a much deeper slide in recent months.
The company intends to stream the event online rather than holding an in-person gathering, continuing the approach taken at the start of the pandemic. Apple’s presentation is a highly polished affair, and employees have already begun taping segments of the presentation over the past few weeks, Bloomberg News reported.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the timing of the event. Given that the announcement is still about three weeks away, the company’s plans may change, but Apple usually unveils the latest iPhones in the first half of September.
The company held his last event in June to announce its next set of software updates — iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and macOS Ventura — and invited press and developers to its campus to watch a video of the presentation. That agreement was part of Apple’s slow transition to more normal operations, a push that included a return to the office.
On Monday, the company told its corporate staff they would have to work in person three days a week starting Sept. 5, two days before the product was scheduled to be announced.
The standard iPhone 14 will look similar to the iPhone 13, although the company will eliminate the 5.4-inch “mini” version and add a model with a 6.7-inch screen. This will mark the first time Apple has released a non-Pro iPhone with a display this size.
The company is planning bigger changes for the iPhone 14 Pro line. Apple will replace the front-facing camera cutout, known as the notch, with a pill-shaped opening for Face ID sensors and a pinhole-sized area for the camera. This will give users a bit more screen space. The company is also adding a faster chip to the iPhone 14 Pro. Meanwhile, Apple will keep the A15 chip from iPhone 13 in regular iPhone 14 models.
The most significant changes to the iPhone 14 Pro will be in the camera system, which will appear slightly larger to users. The Pro models will get a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera along with 12-megapixel ultra-wide and telephoto sensors. Apple also plans improvements to video recording and battery life.
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For the latest Apple Watches, known as the Series 8, Apple will add women’s health features and a body temperature sensor. The standard watch will look similar to the Series 7, but a new professional model will pursue sportier users. It will have a larger display, a tough titanium body, new fitness tracking features and longer battery life. The company is also planning a new Apple Watch SE, its low-cost smartwatch, with a faster chip.
Also coming in September: iOS 16, the software that will run on the next iPhones, and watchOS 9, the next Apple Watch operating system. And the company plans to release macOS Ventura in October alongside iPadOS, the iPad’s operating system. The latest software was delayed by about a month, partly due to bugs surrounding the new Stage Manager multitasking system.
Apple is working on an updated low-end iPad with an A14 chip and a USB-C port, as well as new iPad Pro models with M2 chips for later this year, Bloomberg News reported. It’s also looking to launch new Macs before the end of the year, as it works with versions of the Mac mini and MacBook Pro with M2-based processors.
(Updates with shares in the fifth paragraph.)
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