Apple’s Do or Die move
It’s September, which can only mean that Apple has launched its new aye above gadget i.e. the new iPhone, watches and other gadgets. It always focused on the phone and what the iPhone 16 would look like.
It mostly looks like the old one except for the extra button on the side, a camera button to control camera features like zooming in and out. But the big change is inside the phone. It comes with a brand-new processing chip, the A18 Pro. It’s meant for Apple’s next big thing, Apple intelligence, which would be their version of AI.
New iPhone- Innovation or Washing?
Apple is integrating chat GPT into the voice assistant Siri, it will help you write, create emojis, and search for things online. But Apple intelligence wouldn’t roll out immediately, Its debut is expected in USA in the October and then gradually other markets will get it. Most of these AI features are not ready yet, you may have to wait until next year or later. So, Apple has launched a half-baked product, their whole marketing pitch is trust us.
Now just imagine if someone else from the industry had done this, not unveiled an unfinished product but also charged you more money for it. You would never think of buying it, so why treat Apple differently? And we understand their desperation, iPhones make up half of Apple sales but iPhone purchases are down.
iPhone Sale:
Looking at the period from January to March 2024, iPhone purchases are 10% down compared to the year before. So Apple needs people to buy their phones again, so they are betting on AI. But the question is, will it work? Well, the new iPhone starts 799$, but in India, it is more expensive, the base model is around 80k INR and it goes all the way up to 1,84,000 INR.
What does Apple Offers?
What do you get for this money? An iPhone 16 with an extra button, but for Apple the prices have rarely affected the sale, the proof is in the market. Having said that a couple of things have become clear-
1: Apple is running out of ideas, I mean they pioneered smartphone technology kinds of stuff like touchscreens, and good quality cameras, features that made the iPhone genuinely better. But we haven’t seen that in a while the changes are now incremental and have slightly better cameras, maybe a new body, or longer battery life. These are not innovations, these are the things that we can expect from any company.
2: Apple is too late to the game of AI. Google and Samsung have already done it. Their phones have integrated AI, so Apple is not ahead of the curve, they are behind it. Samsung is openly mocking Apple on platforms like Twitter. Frankly speaking, they have a point, Samsung has a lot more than just AI, their phones can flip and fold. Huawei too has joined the craze, yesterday they unveiled a tri-fold phone. A phone that can fold thrice. They claim that they have got more than 3 million orders already. Can you see the problem here-
A- Apple is late to the trend
B- It is more expensive than others
Future of Apple
So why would people buy an iPhone 16? Definitely, users are also not very happy with this new launch with very limited advanced features. So, the markets agree, Apple shares closed flat on Monday, and there was no cheer despite the launch. This is not about just one product. It’s a make-or-break time for Apple because the company has shown its hand. They had plans to diversify into cars that had been dumped. They unveiled a virtual reality headset last year, again this hasn’t worked and most importantly the iPhone sales are down.
Samsung now has a 20.8% market share, Apple is down to 17.3%, and it’s clear why. Others are already offering what Apple is promising to offer. Just look at Samsung Galaxy phones, they offer you real time translations, AI-powered photo editing and writing, and text summarization and Apple does not offer any of this. So why would customers buy an iPhone 16?
Final Review
There used to be a time when iPhones were better than any phone but that unfortunately is not the case anymore. iPhones are lagging behind in features and technology which is why this AI bet is do or die. Apple has spent around $100 billion on research and development. Presumably, this amount includes AI but the company does not have its own AI model nor does it plan or make any. Instead, it is using third-party model like chat GPT and Google AI. The problem with that it’s not exclusive. For example, Google AI powers Google’s phones as well. So, AI models alone are not enough. Apple needs to find the touchscreen of AI. Something that users will be immediately attracted to. Something that can improve user experience. And if they can’t, then the list is currently too big to fail, the company is worth more than $3.3 trillion and in addition, its products have a loyal fan base, so innovation or not people will buy an Apple for other things like better touch interface or a better gadget ecosystem.
So, it’s hard to imagine Apple going bust like Blackberry or Nokia but not going bust is a low bar to set especially for a brand like Apple, which once dominated the market of smartphones globally. So anything less is a major loss.
