American technology company Apple is set to reveal its highly-anticipated flagship smartphone on 7 September at 10am Pacific Time. The Apple ‘Far Out’ event, will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater on the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.
The event will be streamed live on Apple’s website and on the Apple TV app. In Singapore, viewers can tune in to the event page at Thursday, 8 September 1am SGT.
Apple is expected to launch a 6.1-inch iPhone 14, a 6.7-inch iPhone Max, a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max. Alongside the launch, Apple will also announce new versions of the Apple Watch.
Apple is discontinuing the production of the iPod touch.
Apple first kicked off the portable music device in 2001.
The iPod touch will be available while supplies last.
The iPod’s introduction last 2001 took the market by storm. Since then, iPod has undergone several versions such as featuring a scroll wheel, increasing its capacity to 1,000 songs, and a 10-hour battery life. The version that has been selling until now is the iPod Touch, which was launched in 2007. 2007 is a special year for Apple as it was the same year iPhone was launched.
By 2011, Apple held a 70% global market share in MP3 players. About 400 million iPods have been sold to date. The power of music players was eclipsed by smartphones such as the rise of the iPhone.
Apple has announced that it is discontinuing the iPod, 21 years after the device became the face of portable music and kickstarted its company’s evolution. The announcement ends an era of digital music, which previously boasted up to “1,000 CD-quality songs into an ultra-portable, 6.5-ounce design that fits in your pocket.”
The iPod Touch is the only version still being sold and will be available until supplies last. Apple stopped selling the Nano and Shuffle in 2017. Experts predicted that the Touch would follow soon because of the prevalence of iPhones and other smartphones.
Interestingly, the later versions of iPod Touch resembled smartphones by including features such as taking photos, sending emails, and making video calls.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide marketing said in a statement that the “spirit of iPod lives on”.
He added:
“Music has always been part of our core at Apple and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impact more than just the music industry – it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to and shared.”
Apple, the American tech giant, is inches away from reaching a market capitalization of US$3 trillion dollars just over a year after it surpassed the two-trillion mark. This incredible milestone is as big as the equity markets of the United Kingdom or Germany.
After a decades-long run as one of the world’s best performing stocks, shares of Apple were up at 1.6% at US$174. The company needs to trade at US$182.85 to hit the goal. Nonetheless, the stock risen to about 30% this year on top of an 80% jump in 2020.
Oanda’s Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam said: “There’s so much still to come from Apple, which makes you wonder what milestone they’ll pass next and how big they can become.”
Back in 2018, Apple reached the US$1 trillion in market capitalization and it took the company two years to double that valuation. Reaching the three-trillion mark will establish a strong rally that has been fueled by investors betting on its brand. Moreover, its peers in the trillion-dollar club include Microsoft, Amazon, and Tesla.
“Apple does seem to be more immune to the ebb and flow of economic forces just because of this really strong brand. Its new product pipeline is pretty strong too,” according to Hargreaves Lansdown’s Senior Investment and Market Analyst Susannah Streeter.
QUICK TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
Image Credits: pixabay.com
Owing it to the steady stream of products that attracted a loyal following, Apple became the world’s most valuable business. In late 2000, the company had a market value of merely US$4.5 billion and the investors were fleeing the stock. Nowadays, investors cannot get enough of the stock. The stock has breached Wall Street’s median price target by US$4, with most experts and analysts covering the stock rating it buy or higher.
Despite the wobbling status of markets because of higher interest rates and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, investors view Apple as a relatively safe place to keep their money due to its consistent sales growth.
You see, Apple is “kind of in that sweet spot of not being too expensive, having a nice mix of products and services, and being a great innovator across its entire product line,” said Ingalls & Snyder’s Senior Portfolio Strategist Tim Ghriskey.
For the Apple enthusiasts, the long wait is over! Apple announced the new iPhone models in its annual conference, which is ahead of the holiday shopping season. This year’s virtual conference included the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, and two Pro models with premium features that you will not find in the regular iPhone 13.
The iPhone 13 will retail from S$1,299 and the iPhone 13 Pro starts from S$1,649. As always, the Pro models are more expensive. These phones will be available in Singapore from September 24.
1. LONGER BATTERY LIFE
In a 2019 poll by SurveyMonkey, 76% of iPhone owners said longer battery life would get them excited about a phone upgrade. Let us see how that pans out because the iPhone 13 series comes with major batter life improvements.
The longer battery life is made possible by A15 Bionic, larger battery, more efficient components, and power optimizations from a deep integration of both hardware and software. In fact, iPhone 13 offers up to two and a half more hours in a day than iPhone 12. iPhone 13 mini, on the other hand, provides up to an hour and a half more power in a day than the iPhone 12 mini.
2. ELEVATED PRO LINEUP
Mr. Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, said:
“iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max make up our most Pro iPhone lineup ever with the biggest advancement for our camera system, the best battery life ever in an iPhone, and the fastest performance of any smartphone. (It is) setting a new standard for iPhone and enabling incredible experiences never before possible…”
The new Pro models were redesigned inside and out. Both models introduce an all-new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion featuring an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz. Your touch experience will be faster and more responsive. What’s more? The Pro camera systems has the new Ultra-Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras to help you capture stunning photos and video. All these are powered by the A15 Bionic.
3. IMPRESSIVE CINEMATIC MODE
Apple followed an extensive study of cinematography to create the Cinematic mode for its newly introduced iPhone series. You will be able to capture cinema-style moments without the training of a professional filmmaker. The focus can be changed during and after capturing pictures for creative control. Users can also adjust the level of bokeh in the Photos app and iMovie for iOS.
Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR and is enabled by A15 Bionic.
4. DIFFERENT CAMERA ARRAY
The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini represent a leap in camera design with its advancements in hardware and computational photography to deliver stunning photos and videos. The camera array is arranged in a diagonal manner. You would be happy to know that the new Wide camera comes with the biggest sensor in the history of iPhone’s dual-camera system. Moreover, its camera system can gather 47% more light for less noise and brighter results!
We officially welcome you to the iPhone 13 series! Do you consider their longer battery life and cinematic camera mode as minor or major improvements? Write your thoughts on the comment section below.
Apple today introduced iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, the next generation of the world’s best smartphone, featuring a beautiful design with sleek flat edges in five gorgeous new colours. Both models feature major innovations, including the most advanced dual-camera system ever on iPhone — with a new Wide camera with bigger pixels and sensor-shift optical image stabilisation (OIS) offering improvements in low light photos and videos, a new way to personalise the camera with Photographic Styles, and Cinematic mode, which brings a new dimension to video storytelling. iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini also boast super-fast performance and power efficiency with A15 Bionic, longer battery life, a brighter Super Retina XDR display that brings content to life, incredible durability with the Ceramic Shield front cover, double the entry-level storage at 128GB, an industry-leading IP68 rating for water resistance, and an advanced 5G experience.
iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini will be available in pink, blue, midnight, starlight, and (PRODUCT)RED1 with pre-orders beginning Friday, September 17, and availability beginning Friday, September 24.
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
Apple today introduced iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a smartphone. Redesigned inside and out, both models introduce an all-new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion featuring an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, making the touch experience faster and more responsive. The pro camera system gets its biggest advancement ever with new Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras, that capture stunning photos and video, powered by the unmatched performance of A15 Bionic, more powerful than the leading competition. These technologies enable impressive new photo capabilities never before possible on iPhone, like macro photography on the new Ultra Wide camera and up to 2.2x improved low-light performance on the new Wide camera. New computational photography features like Photographic Styles personalise the look of images in the Camera app, and both models now include Night mode on all cameras. Video takes a huge leap forward with Cinematic mode for beautiful depth-of-field transitions, macro video, Time-lapse and Slo-mo, and even better low-light performance. Both models also offer end-to-end pro workflows in Dolby Vision, and for the first time, ProRes, only available on iPhone. iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also include 5G with more bands for better coverage, big improvements to battery life for the best battery life ever on iPhone with iPhone 13 Pro Max, new storage capacity of 1TB, and the Ceramic Shield front cover, tougher than any smartphone glass.
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be available in four stunning finishes, including graphite, gold, silver, and the all-new sierra blue. Pre-orders begin Friday, September 17, with availability beginning Friday, September 24.
