AI-Powered iPhone 16, IOS 18, New Apple Watch, And What to Expect From Apple's 'Glowtime Event'
4min read Apple's most important event of the year will be held today, and the AI hype has made this year's event the most anticipated in recent years.
The latest iPhone will still be the focus. However, compared to previous years' routine changes, this year's iPhone 16 has more exciting updates to look forward to—for example, the iPhone is finally getting its own AI, Apple Intelligence.
Will there be new developments in Apple Intelligence?
At the end of July, Apple mentioned the iOS 18 beta version that was launched, and through this, it revealed to the outside world the capabilities of Apple Intelligence in text generation, Siri, and the photo album modules. Although the Apple Intelligence in the beta version did not connect to ChatGPT, this version has already impressed many with its performance in text summarization, proofreading and rewriting, and enhancing the interaction experience with Siri.
Apple also hopes to prove to consumers and Wall Street that, even though it did not start as quickly as its competitors in AI, it remains an important player in generative artificial intelligence.
However, although the Apple Intelligence in the beta version was eye-catching, Apple also stated that due to development progress, some AI features would be difficult to launch before the autumn conference. Therefore, whether Apple will bring some updates to AI features at today's meeting, compared to the Apple Intelligence in the previous beta version, is also one of the topics currently being discussed.
Larger, Better, And More Powerful iPhone
In terms of hardware, the latest iPhone 16 series will maintain four versions, namely iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max. The Pro models will adopt gold titanium to replace blue titanium, retaining black, white, and natural colors; the digital models will replace yellow with white and get new shades of green, pink, and blue.
From the design perspective, all models will continue to use aluminum bodies and 6.1-inch/6.7-inch screens. The standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will adopt a rear camera module design, changing from the original diagonal design to a vertical arrangement similar to the iPhone X. The side mute button has also been changed to an Action button that can be customized for different functions.
At the same time, to support the subsequent full version of Apple's AI services and features, the new generation of iPhones will be uniformly upgraded to 8GB of memory and at least A18-level chips. Among them, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with more powerful A18 Pro chips, and the maximum storage will increase from 1TB to 2 TB. In addition to stronger computing power, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max may also add a Capture button on the side, which is believed to be used to one-click enable AI. However, some analysts believe this button will be used as a camera shutter or a customizable button for quick operations according to user preferences.
In terms of imaging functions, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have been upgraded to an ultra-wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture and support for spatial video shooting. The ultra-wide-angle camera of the iPhone 16 Pro series will be increased from 12 million pixels to 48 million pixels, and the wide-angle lens will be upgraded to 5 times optical zoom, consistent with the Pro Max.
Apple Watch Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary, But No Surprise From Apple
It is worth noting that the Apple Watch will also celebrate its 10th anniversary at the launch conference today, but on this 10th anniversary, the Apple Watch is likely to have no major updates. From the current information, in addition to a larger screen and a thinner body, the new Apple Watch Series 10 does not seem to make other changes in hardware and design.
In terms of software, the new Apple Watch may add sleep apnea and high blood pressure detection functions. However, after the patent lawsuit with Masimo Corp. at the beginning of the year, the blood oxygen sensing function will still not appear in the new watch. At the same time, AI-related services and functions are also expected not to appear in the new Apple Watch.
Apple reportedly may also upgrade its products such as AirPods and iPad mini.
Apple's Glowtime Moment May Still Be Far Away
Apple usually does not hold its launch conference on Monday local time or so early, and some external factors this year may be the important reason for Apple's decision to advance the launch conference: on Tuesday of this week, Trump and Harris will have their second US presidential debate, which will surely attract most of the attention from the outside world. On the same day, the European Union will decide whether to require Apple to make up for the previous 14 billion US dollars in taxes, which may hurt the company's stock price. Therefore, considering the overall situation, Monday in early September may be the best time at the moment.
When talking about the potential impact on Apple's stock price, Morgan Stanley analysts pointed out that the event may not be able to reverse the downturn of Apple's stock price since the end of last month. On the contrary, there is a probability that Apple's stock price will continue to fall on the day. Although the new devices and the addition of artificial intelligence are considered by the market to create good performance in the next few months, Morgan Stanley stated that before truly seeing the positive impact of AI on Apple, investors need to get through the launch conference itself.
Historically, the iPhone launch conference has always been a 'hype news' event, the analysts at Morgan Stanley wrote, noting that Apple's stock often underperforms the S&P 500 on the day of the iPhone launch event, and moderately outperforms the market in the following three months.
In terms of boosting iPhone sales, some analysts believe that new technologies such as Apple Intelligence will attract a large number of users who pursue the latest technology to purchase the iPhone 16 series, thereby driving sales growth. Investment bank Wedbush pointed out that the iPhone 16 series is expected to open the largest mobile phone upgrade cycle in Apple's history.
However, there are also voices pointing out that considering the regional limitations of Apple's AI services and the uncertainty of R&D speed, the sales volume of the iPhone 16 series may not be as optimistic as the company expects. For example, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the recent financial reports of Apple suppliers TSMC and Largan show that Apple has not increased the order volume of the iPhone 16 series, and it is expected that the order volume of the iPhone 16 series in the second half of 2024 will be about 87 million, lower than the order volume of 91 million for the iPhone 15 series in the same period last year.