Apple unveiled new models of its iPad at an event on Tuesday, promising refreshed devices at affordable prices.
“This is the biggest day for iPad since its introduction,” said CEO Tim Cook.
The announcement exemplified Apple’s current strategy: relying on new models of its flagship items, rather than transitioning to the next big product, analysts told Keynote USA.
While the world’s second-largest company, in terms of market capitalization, risks relying on long-established products in a competitive sector, analysts say the approach allows Apple to capitalize on its loyal customer base and its devices. popular while developing new products like Apple Vision Pro. The company’s mixed reality headsets.
However, with a starting price of $3,499 and a higher-powered version of around $4,000, the Apple Vision Pro is still far from a price that would make it affordable for a wide audience, says Ben Bajarin, an analyst at research firm Creative Strategies. . Additionally, Apple has largely remained quiet in the industry-wide race toward AI technologies and products.
“We still don’t know what’s next,” Bajarin said. “That’s what’s hard for everyone,” though he added: “There’s still no company on the planet that has the level of scale of consumer hardware that they have.”
Apple did not immediately respond to Keynote USA’s request for comment.
In its latest earnings report, Apple last week revealed a decline in sales of some of its core products. Smartphone sales fell 10% during the three months ending in March, compared with the same period a year earlier. What’s more, iPad sales fell 17% during that period, according to the earnings report.
In total, Apple sales fell 4% during the three months ending in March, compared to the same period last year.
In a conference call last week, Cook attributed the sales decline to a difficult comparison with the year-ago quarter, when an easing of COVID-related supply lockdowns triggered a sales boom. Absent that one-time increase, sales would have grown starting in 2024, Cook said.
The earnings report set the stage for Tuesday’s Apple Event, at which the company launched new models of its iPad to boost sales.
Apple introduced a redesigned 11-inch iPad Air and a newly released 13-inch iPad Air, each of which is equipped with the M2 chip. The cost of the 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599, while the 13-inch model costs $799.
The company also launched new models of its premium iPad Pro, describing it in an online statement as “the thinnest Apple product ever created.” The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, while the 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,299.
Customers can order the new products online now and find them in store next week, the company said.
Many analysts are looking forward to next month’s Worldwide Developers Conference, when Apple is expected to make a “major announcement on AI,” Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at investment firm Wedbush, said in a note to investors that was shared. with Keynote USA.
The company may reveal plans to incorporate AI into its next round of iPhone models, which could boost sales of the product, Ives said.
The combination of potential AI upgrades, along with new iPad models, could amount to a “broader upgrade cycle driven by Apple hardware over the next year,” Ives further noted.
“We believe Cook is planting the seeds in the field for a change in Apple’s growth. & Co.,” Ives added.
Still, the strategy of improving preexisting products rather than introducing new ones leaves Apple’s long-term vision somewhat unclear, Bajarin said, although he acknowledged that the Apple Vision Pro, which became available for purchase in February only in the U.S. ., is still in the early stages. stages of development. He also acknowledged that the high price of the product will eventually come down.
“We’ve gotten a glimpse of what’s next, but everyone realizes it’s not around the corner,” Bajarin said. “It will take many years to realize that.”
Meanwhile, Bajarin said, Apple will likely turn to its huge customer base and potential AI-powered product updates to stabilize sales.
“I’m not worried at all,” Bajarin said. “It’s not that they’re losing customers to someone else. People keep their products longer because they’re good enough.”
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