Apple unveils new iPhone and Fitness Watch at annual event

Apple, at its annual marketing event on Wednesday, unveiled its iPhone 14 with satellite phone capabilities that can be used in an emergency. But sharing the spotlight is a product that has slowly developed a strong following: the Apple Watch.

The wearable computer, originally released in 2015, still represents a small portion of the company’s revenue. But it did help Apple build a fortress around the iPhone, deepening customer loyalty to the company’s most important device.

On Wednesday, Apple expanded that strategy with a handful of new watches. It has unveiled a new fitness-focused smartwatch targeting triathletes, distance runners and country enthusiasts.

The Apple Watch Ultra, a rugged $800 model with a larger screen and improved durability, is pushing the company into a corner of the Garmin-dominated smartwatch market, which brings in $2.6 billion in sales to endurance sports rivals.

The new watch features an “action” button for easier use while wearing gloves, larger speakers for calls in windy conditions and a larger battery that delivers 36 hours on a single charge. Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said the watch was “designed to push boundaries.”

In addition, Apple has released an update for its traditional Watch Series 8, Which costs $400. It includes a sensor to track changes in body temperature, which can help predict menstrual and ovulation cycles for women trying to conceive. It also has a feature called Fault Detection, which can identify when an Apple Watch wearer has been in a car accident and notify family and emergency services.

Apple also lowered the price of its entry-level watch, the Apple Watch SE, which debuted in 2020 for $280. The new version, which costs $250 and lacks some of the features found in more expensive models, is designed to make the device more accessible, especially for families. A growing number of parents Buying an Apple Watch for their kids as a smartphone predecessor to keep in touch and track their location, according to research data from investment group Piper Sandler.

Apple leads solidly in smartwatch sales, with nearly 51 percent of the market, ahead of Samsung and Huawei, which account for 19 percent and 5 percent. Both the lower-priced Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch SE should help Apple boost sales of the business, which generated an estimated $17 billion in revenue last year, said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of hardware research at IDC, the market research firm.

The company’s version of its smartwatch was paired with an update to its line of wireless earbuds, known as AirPods. Introduced a new generation of the AirPods Pro line, priced at $250, with new features, including the ability to turn up and down the volume with a single tap. The company said it also offers improved noise cancellation to better reduce high-decibel noises such as construction.

For Apple, smartwatches and AirPods dwarf the iPhone, which accounts for more than half of the company’s total sales. But the hardware, which requires an iPhone to function optimally, has helped Apple deepen customer loyalty. It also offers a low-cost alternative to the iPhone, which may help the company maintain sales momentum in a slowing economy.

“The more products you have from Apple, the more impossible it is to leave Apple to another operator,” Mr. Jeronimo said. “Your entire life becomes part of one ecosystem.”

Apple unveiled the products at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, the first time it has held a product event there since 2019. The venue was packed with journalists and staff, who celebrated the return to normalcy by cheering as loudly as a saddle. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, took the platform to present a pre-recorded media ad detailing its latest products.

Among them was the iPhone 14, an introductory phone that costs $800. The phone features last year’s processor which lowers Apple’s component costs. It also has improved front and rear cameras with larger sensors to take clearer photos in low light.

It adds satellite phone capabilities, giving people the ability to call emergency services in rural and remote environments so they can get help if they get lost while hiking or find themselves in another stressful situation.

Apple has kept the biggest design changes for the iPhone 14 Pro, which costs $999, the same price as last year’s flagship phone. The new phone features a smaller aperture for its Face ID system, an “always on” screen to illuminate information like the clock without unlocking the phone, and a slimmer black border around the screen.

Unlike the lower-priced iPhone 14, the Pro model features a new processor, the A16, that supports an improved camera with a larger sensor for improved photos. It also supports new machine learning algorithms to improve the detail and clarity of images.

Despite having some of the highest price tags in the smartphone market, the iPhone has enjoyed a business revival during the pandemic. In its last fiscal year, Apple reported record revenue of $192 billion from the iPhone alone, a 14-year-old device that has become known more for incremental improvements than revolutionary innovations.

The iPhone 14 may be more famous for where it was made than for its new features. This year for the first time The company will bundle some of its flagship iPhone 14 The phones are in India for launch, as part of a strategy to reduce its dependence on China where it produces the vast majority of its products.

Efforts to diversify its supply chain have gained more urgency this year amid the turmoil caused by the epidemic in China and rising geopolitical tensions over Taiwan’s status.

“We are in the post-iPhone maturity phase,” said Bob O’Donnell, founder of Technalysis Research. “It’s getting more and more difficult to tell the generations apart from the machine.”