Apple Event 2021 Several media including BBC reported the Apple event on September 14th, 2021. On that day, the American technology giant revealed its new products such as iPhone 13. […]
Several media including BBC reported the Apple event on September 14th, 2021. On that day, the American technology giant revealed its new products such as iPhone 13. Of course, some people are happy for the new release and others do not. However, we can safely say that the announcement did not give any surprise to us compared to ten years ago.
For example, when the first iPhone became available in 2007, what did people react? There were people were skeptical about “smartphone” at that time, but we know how smartphones are changing our world. In fact, some research reported that there are more than 3.8 billion smartphone users in 2021. This number accounts for almost half of world population. What’s more, more than 1 billion smartphones are shipping every year.
These numbers are really incredible and iPhone started or made this revolution. However, it has been almost 15 years after the first iPhone was released. Thus, it seems natural that there are fewer surprises in the new iPhones. When it comes to iPhone 13, they are faster A15 chip, a brighter display and a longer battery life.
Of course, these new features are very important for users. Some market research reported that the best reason why users buy new iPhone is longer battery life. In fact, iPhone users can share their experience that they want longer battery life. If users use iPhone all day long for more than a year, they will probably feel that its battery life becomes shorter.
Therefore, longer battery life gives users good incentives to buy new iPhones. The same research above also reported that more than 30% of iPhone users need 3 years to buy new iPhone. If we use the same smartphone more than 3 years without replacing new battery, longer battery life can be good reason to buy new one. In this sense, the target users of iPhone 13 would be users who use old iPhones such as iPhone 7 or 8. In other words, the target would be existing iPhone users in the world.
As we see the other article, more or less 200 million iPhone is shipping every year. In 2018, the sales of iPhone accounted for more than 60% of Apple’s total revenue. This ratio is decreasing but it keeps still about 50% of sales revenue.
Some analysts say the fact that the ratio of Apple’s services accounting for its revenue is increasing. However, when Apple’s users enjoy its services, what is the base of it? The answer should be “Apple’s hardware” including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and others. In this sense, iPhone is really important for not only the sales but also the other revenue source.
On the other hand, its Chinese competitors such as Xiaomi and Oppo also offer high-end models. They increased the market share of the smartphone market thanks to their price. Now, they also want to gain high-end users who are the main target of Apple or Samsung. Thus, if Apple can keep only existing users, it could be risk for the company. This is because new users will attract or wait the innovation from Apple.
