Apple in 2019: Services instead of iPhone, watch instead of iPad

In the fall, Apple traditionally shows new mobile devices. This year, the event will most likely take place on September 10 or 11, and the new iPhone and Apple Watch are almost certainly announced there. But the September presentation will not be the main one in the year. Modern Apple is not the company we are used to. From the monument that was the iPhone, she reoriented to the service of the user's services respondent to the private life. The regrouping has already cost the company spending a record stock of cash of $ 60 billion. The Bell explains what to expect from Apple now.

This note was originally written for the weekly technology building The Bell. You can subscribe to it here .

Read also the joys of private life: Apple will work on the privacy of his services

.card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: Before {Background-Color: #000000; } .card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: After {Background-Color: #000000; }

Nonayphone company

The diversification on which Apple reached is already referring to the fruit.

• For the first time since 2012, the iPhone accounted for less than half of the company's revenue. In the third quarter of the financial year, Apple sold $ 25.59 billion - this is almost $ 4 billion less than a year earlier.
• But the services brought her $ 11.46 billion, and wearable devices, thanks to the second generation of Airpods, significantly accelerated growth. According to the Canalys report, only in North America the volume of the market for wearable devices in the second quarter of 2019 reached $ 2 billion, and the Apple is a leader on it.
• Now Apple receives $ 16 billion per year from sales of wearable devices. If they continue to grow by 55-60% per year, watches and headphones will overtake the united IPad and Mac business by the end of 2020 and will become the third largest product category after the iPhone and services.

.card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: Before {Background-Color: #000000; } .card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: After {Background-Color: #000000; }

What is known about the new iPhone

We do not know what the conventional iPhone 11 will be called, but it is assumed that their line will repeat XS, XS Max and XR (working names of models D42, D43 and N104).

In late July, thanks to the leak, some technical characteristics of smartphones became known :

• Instead of the A12X processor, a new A13 will be used, based on a 7-nanometer process.
• The D42 and D43 will have a 3X OLED RETINA display, the N104 will have 2x Liquid Retina - that is, the same as the previous generation. The screen resolution will remain the same.
• The new devices will not have a 3D Touch function that technologically requires a screen sensitive. Instead, a new version of the Taptic Engine tactile response technology will appear (already used in the iPhone XR). In iOS, the Haptic Touch function will appear, which will replace 3D Touch with a longer press for all devices.
• On the rear panel of the D42 and D43 there will be three cameras inscribed in a square. One of the cameras will be able to carry out wide -angle shooting, and at the same time remove the frame boundaries in order to be able to configure the prospect after shooting (this additional ordering information is not preserved). The heiress XR will have two cameras on the back cover.
• Instead of the expected USB-C connector, the new iPhones will remain Lightning.
• 5G support will appear on Apple phones only in 2020, writes the analyst at the company Min-Chi Kuo. One must think that the fifth -generation module for $ 1 billion intellectual property of Intel, which is leaving this market and selling the corresponding patents, purchased for $ 1 billion.

Apple suppliers received orders of about the same volume as last year: in the second half of 2019, they ordered 75 million devices. In the second half of last year, the company, according to analysts, sold 70–80 million iPhones.

.card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: Before {Background-Color: #000000; } .card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: After {Background-Color: #000000; }

The economy of the new Apple

Apple is the largest US taxpayer. One way or another, the company affects the creation of 2.4 million jobs in the country and directly invests in its economy by 2023 $ 350 billion. In an alternative universe, where Donald Trump and Trade Wars is not so sharply departed from the iPhone to services and, possibly, preserve the Chinese market. But while the US president is the main factor affecting the cost of the company.

Apple's strategy now consists in:

• Monetization of an affordable audience (in particular, American) due to content and other services. Apple TV+, Apple News+, Game Apple Arcade and Apple Card are designed to take an iPhone place sooner or later. Only for the production of original TV shows and films for the not yet neglected TV+ company has allocated over $ 6 billion.
• Huge investments in research. For the third quarter, the company spent $ 4.9 billion on R&D - this is not only the largest amount in history, but also the largest share of revenue (7.9%) since 2003. For the whole of 2019, Apple will spend on research - providing those very competitive advantages - about $ 16 billion.
• More active defending their interests in power. When Trump recently postponed the introduction of new duties on Chinese goods like laptops and mobile phones, Apple shares have risen in price. To defend such decisions, Tim Kuk has to explain on lunch with Trump that trading duties deprive Apple of a competitive advantage compared to Samsung.

The feverish activity and war on several fronts could not but affect the company's indicators - for the first time in 10 years, Apple lost world leadership in cash reserves. Now the championship is owned by Google with its $ 117 billion, and the “cube” of Apple decreased from $ 163 billion to $ 102 billion.

.card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: Before {Background-Color: #000000; } .card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: After {Background-Color: #000000; }

Finteh named after Apple

In the USA, on August 20, the Apple Card credit card, developed by Goldman Sachs, launched.

Read also Apple Card: Advantages, disadvantages and secret benefits of Apple

• For the United States, Apple Card - even with restrictions that were not known at the very beginning, is a great offer.
• With the help of the financial ecosystem, Apple will not only be able to probe the demand much better, but also get such a necessary predictive analytics for potential users of services.
• In addition, she has a powerful marketing lever in the form of a daily Daily Cashback cashback. For example, on launch an increased cashback of 3% announced for Uber and Uber Eats.

.card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: Before {Background-Color: #000000; } .card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: After {Background-Color: #000000; }

Not such a healthy future

Apple has three trump cards in the sleeve, which are still known about.

• Health. The company is actively investing in the collection and analysis of the health of its customers, as well as the fight against frequently encountered and chronic diseases, including senile dementia, diabetes and heart rhythm disorders.
• Augmented reality glasses. Apple positions itself as the largest augmented reality platform in the world. Presumably, the company is actively working on special glasses, but so far the only result of this work is the high market expectations that hopes to get an analogue of the iPhone for the next decade.
• Automobile project. At some point, almost closed, reformatted and starting, it is thoroughly hidden.

Unfortunately, not a breakthrough is visible in any of the mentioned industries, and in healthcare the team is even specially restrained, which is why the managers leave it. Now all efforts in this direction are focused around Apple Watch, which affects a very small part of digital medicine.

.card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: Before {Background-Color: #000000; } .card [Data-Color = " #000000"]: After {Background-Color: #000000; }

What will not be shown to us

With a high degree of probability, the September presentation of Apple is not the last one in the year.

• The company is hardly ready to announce in addition to new devices about the launch of all services announced in March.
• Most likely, the main service launches, including Apple TV+, will make a mismatch to October.
• The exception is except that the paid game service Apple Arcade, without which the application store in iOS 13 is not entirely full. He can start in September.