Apple introduced its largest iPhone ever and a new line of watches that can detect heart problems as it looks to get users to upgrade to more expensive devices in the face of stagnant global demand for smartphones.
The relatively small changes to its lineup, following last year’s overhauled iPhone X, were widely expected by investors, who sent the company’s shares down 1.5% in early trades. The strategy has been successful, helping Apple’s stock gain more than 30% this year and making it the first publicly traded US company to hit a market value of more than $1 trillion.
Apple’s new phones are the XS with a 5.8-inch (14.7-cm) screen, starting at $999, and the XS Max — the largest iPhone to date and one of the biggest on the market — with 6.5-inch (16.5-cm) screen, starting at $1,099. Apple uses the ‘S’ suffix when it upgrades components but leaves the exterior of a phone largely the same. Last year’s iPhone X — pronounced “ten” — represented a major redesign. Apple also introduced a lower-cost 6.1-inch
With two phone models starting at $999 or higher in the US, Apple appears to be taking advantage of a strong US economy, low unemployment, and rising household wealth. The median US household income rose for a third straight year in 2017 to the highest on record since 1967 by one measure, US government data showed on Wednesday.
Apple, which is looking for ways to lessen reliance on phones for revenue, opened its event by announcing the new Apple Watch Series 4 range with edge-to-edge displays. It is positioning the new watch as a more comprehensive health device, able to take an ECG to detect an irregular heartbeat and start an emergency call automatically if it detects a user falling down, potentially appealing to older customers. It comes in two variants of GPS and GPS+Cellular, starting at $399 and $499, respectively.(The Times of India)
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