For its first event of 2022, Apple unveiled a whole host of new products. On Tuesday, the Apple brand notably presented a new version of the iPhone SE, the cheapest in its collection, a new iPad Air and a new in-house chip, which will be used to equip a new desktop computer, called “Mac Studio”.
Just like the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, the iPhone SE will feature an A15 chip, designed in-house by Apple. It will be compatible with 5G, which should allow Apple to further boost its sales, after an exceptional year 2021. “This smartphone is, by far, the fastest and most powerful at this price,” notes Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush. Sales of this iPhone could reach 30 million copies this year, estimates the expert.
Decline in the stock market
These new iPhone models had already leaked in the press, which explains the market’s lack of enthusiasm. The action of the Californian company fell slightly, by 1%, after the end of the presentation, according to the Bloomberg agency.
The only uncertainty around this new iPhone was its price. It will eventually retail for $429, which is $30 more than the previous model. Some analysts on the contrary expected a price drop, but this slight increase “should not have an impact on overall demand”, according to Dan Ives.
Next generation chips
During this presentation, made from the premises of Cupertino, Tim Cook and his teams also unveiled two new colors for the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro – two shades of green -, as well as a new iPad Air which will be equipped with a M1 chip. This processor, designed by Apple to power its line of computers, led to an explosion in Mac sales last year.
Building on this success, Apple continues to invest in chips and is increasingly making them a selling point. It presented a new generation chip, the M1 Ultra, with “unmatched” computing power, according to Apple. It is actually made up of two M1 Max chips, fused together by a technology called “UltraFusion”, and which work as a single processor.
A screen at 1,599 dollars
This new chip will be used to run a desktop computer, the Mac Studio. Intended for an audience of creatives – 3D designers, photographers and videographers, in particular -, it will cost at least 1,999 dollars. It can be equipped with either an M1 Ultra chip or an M1 Max.
This computer, which looks like a big gray box, does not have a screen. This allows Apple to also market a new generation screen, the Studio Display, at a price of 1,599 dollars. The Californian company has long praised the merits of this screen equipped with a camera that can follow the movements of the people filmed and a spatial audio system.
The presentation of these novelties is the first event of a busy year for Apple. According to Bloomberg, the company is also working on new Macs and iPads, as well as an iPhone 14 and smartwatches. Observers are also speculating that Apple could introduce its first connected virtual reality headset this year, stepping on the toes of Meta, Facebook’s parent company.
Baseball on Apple TV +
During the Tuesday evening presentation, Tim Cook also announced that it would soon be possible to watch baseball games on Apple TV + on Friday evenings. This service will be available in the United States, but also in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. American baseball fans will also have access to a streaming channel dedicated to the sport.
This announcement confirms that Apple intends to accelerate further in services. This is the first time that the group has purchased the rights to broadcast live matches. The big tech companies are increasingly competing directly with television channels: its rival Amazon thus owns the rights to the NFL, the main American football league.
