Autumn has barely begun when electronics manufacturers are already preparing their holiday catalogs… Apple, Google, Microsoft… Computer giants are adding a clock to the microwave oven this year, can we illustrate, with their new products end of the year… for better or for worse.
Apple got the ball rolling this fall. Like it or not, the creator of the iPhone is kind of setting the tone in the mobility market these days. The Californian brand has slowly but surely taken market share from Android phones, so much so that its mobile products represent just over half of what is sold in this niche across North America.
That’s why its new releases are being watched very closely by just about everyone, from consumers to analysts to investors, looking for the trend that will define the next three months, if not the next whole year. And this fall, the trend is simple: the recipe that worked so well during the pandemic does not change. This will probably be the case next fall, with Europe forcing everyone to migrate to the USB-C port for charging.
Samsung, which each year tries to pull the rug out from under Apple’s feet, like Google and Microsoft, whose fall novelties will be presented during the next month, do things no differently.
This year, these four are reproducing what microwave oven manufacturers did in the early 1980s by adding a clock to their appliances: we innovate in small steps. That said, often a seemingly trivial novelty says a lot about a manufacturer’s future strategy.
dynamic island
The iPhone 14 is eloquent proof of this. The device is sold in four variants, but two of those, the Pro and Pro Max, are entitled to more respect. Apple has lowered the black notch on the front camera to create what it calls a dynamic island, a black band at the top of the screen whose size changes depending on the context. The effect is striking: you feel that you have something new in your hands, even if it’s purely aesthetic as a change.
The Pro versions of the iPhone 14 also have revamped mechanics and better cameras. The shots they take are sharp and colorful, but we’re still waiting for a more powerful telephoto lens than the 3X offered this year.
You have to stretch $300 more than the base model costs for an iPhone 14 Pro. Is it justified? The Canadian site HelloSafe recalled earlier this week that the price of the iPhone had tripled in Canada since its initial launch in 2007. Analysts believe that this remains a boon, given the central role of wireless in the lives of consumers in 2022.
The numbers seem to support these words: orders for the iPhone 14 Pro would be 25% higher than those for the iPhone 13 Pro launched last fall, two weeks after their respective launch.
For the ears of a “Pro”
It is not yet known if the second generation AirPods Pro headphones that are going on sale these days will be as well received by North American consumers. Despite a format identical to that of their predecessors, these fully wireless earbuds significantly improve their treatment of sound and ambient noise. They cost $329.
When Apple launched its first AirPods in September 2017, the Californian company presented them as a simple accessory that went with the new iPhone at the time. No one suspected that they would become so important for this niche of the electronics market.
We had no idea at the time that this accessory would be so popular today: according to the firm Statista, they account for 34% of all headphones sold in North America. They alone were worth US$175 billion to Apple at the end of 2019. The new model may well cement that position.
Ultramarathoner
A strategy often adopted by electronics manufacturers to push something new is to make it more difficult to access. The $1,100 Apple Watch Ultra falls into this category. Apple has created an “aspirational” product aimed at fans of extreme outdoor activities, whether they are in the mountains, in the forest or even downright underwater. The device is a stylish and very capable upgrade to a product that is starting to look aging in shape. This model certainly lays the foundation for future generations of the Apple Watch.
Given its price, it’s probably a probe to see if its design should not inspire that of later versions of the Apple Watch, those which will be sold at a much better price next fall.
It wouldn’t be the first time a tech giant did the trick. Samsung did it with its foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Microsoft does it with its most featured Surface tablets. And many microwave oven manufacturers have been doing the same thing for at least forty years…