At 1 a.m. on September 13, the "Spring Festival Gala in Science and Technology" Apple's autumn new product conference was held as scheduled, and the iPhone 15 series also arrived as scheduled, and there were Apple Watch Series 9, Watch Ultra 2 and other products at the same time.
As expected, the iPhone 15 series brings a full series of flexible island design, USBC interface, 48 million main camera and other innovative designs, of which iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max upgraded with the world's first 3nm process chip, 6-core image processor, except for the 128G version, the price of other versions are 100 yuan -500 yuan higher than the previous generation of products, September 15 (Friday) 8 pm to open pre-order, It will be officially released from Friday, September 22.
Image from Apple's official website
On the day of the conference, Apple's stock price fell 1.71%, the stock price was $173 / share, the total market value was $2,756.3 billion, and since September, Apple's stock price has fallen by 6%. Its market value lost US$47.8 billion (about 348.5 billion yuan) overnight.
All series of smart island, USBC interface
Like last year's iPhone 14 series, this year's iPhone 15 series is still composed of iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the screen size is still 6.1 inches or 6.7 inches.
Last year, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max canceled the previous "notch screen", the front module into a new area, Apple named it "Spirit Island", Spirit Island brings users a new way to interact with the iPhone, blurring the boundaries of hardware and software, can change in real time to display important reminders, notifications and activities. This year, the iPhone 15 series features an island design that gives users innovative ways to interact with important notifications and real-time events.
Image from Apple's official website
Apple's product interface is not unified and other issues are also the focus of attention from all walks of life, the Apple iPhone 15 series is equipped with USBType-C charging interface, iPhone 15 USB-C charging cable can charge Mac, iPad, iPhone and the second generation of AirPodsPro, so far, the iPhone since the first introduction of the Lightning interface in 2012, its iconic interface that has been used for more than ten years will become history, at the same time, The entire consumer electronics industry interface has also been unified, that is, the USBType-C interface is adopted.
Image from Apple's official website
USB-C generally refers to USBType-C, because of its faster data transmission speed, more efficient power transmission efficiency, in smartphones, tablets and laptops and other hundreds of millions of consumer electronic products and related supporting components, has become the standard, in 2022 global shipments of USB-C interface devices nearly 5 billion.
According to Credence Research, the global Type-C interface market reached $380 billion in 2018, and from 2019 to 2027, the global Type-C interface market will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25.7%. With the introduction of Apple's iPhone and other products, USB-C interface applications are expected to usher in accelerated popularization, which will bring clear industry improvement space to connector and interface, conversion companies.
Among the A-share listed companies, Derun Electronics and Haineng Industry both produce USB interface Type-C and other related products, and according to the Apple supplier directory in previous years, Derun Electronics is one of Apple's Chinese suppliers.
The world's first 3nm chip
Chips have always been the advantage of Apple's iPhone products, but also attracted attention from all walks of life, in recent years, almost every year iPhone new products will upgrade chips, this year is no exception.
Image from Apple's official website
iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max debuted with the world's first 3nm process chip A17 Pro, the overall use of 19 billion transistors, 6-core CPU, including 2 high-performance cores and 4 energy-efficient cores, single-threaded performance is 10% stronger than the previous generation, 6-core GPU, performance is 20% stronger than the previous generation, support light tracing, known as "the best gaming platform", and the use of titanium with matte texture glass backplate, while replacing the original for switching ringtone/mute state with buttons, Single function switch, available in black, white and blue three colors.
Image from Apple's official website
"The A17 Pro chip opens an unprecedented new chapter in iPhone performance and gaming." Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said.
Apple analyst Yan Zhanmeng also said that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus focus on the public's photo functions, including satellite positioning that the public may use, while the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are positioned for professional users, highlighting veteran gamers and professional photography.
It is understood that the iPhone 15 Pro's telephoto has almost no changes, or the previous 3x optical zoom, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max provides the longest 5x optical zoom in the history of the iPhone, also using a periscope lens design.
In addition, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are upgraded with iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max equipped with 4nm process bionic chips, and aluminum metal with color melting glass backplate, providing pink, yellow, green, blue, black five colors.
All iPhone 15 series will be pre-ordered at 8 p.m. on September 15 (Friday) and officially released from September 22 (Friday).
In addition, the iPhone 15 series also supports satellite SOS emergency call function, users can also update the location in the app, so as to wait for roadside assistance, but unfortunately, this function is currently unavailable in Chinese mainland.
The price of configurations above 256G increased slightly
It is worth mentioning that when Huawei Mate 60 series started selling half a month in advance, Apple actually increased the price this time, the starting price of the iPhone 15 series except Pro Max has not changed, the unit price of 256G, 512G, 1T version increased by 100 yuan, 300 yuan, 500 yuan respectively, iPhone 15 Pro Max canceled the 128G version, 256G price 9999 yuan / part, the whole series 5999 yuan -13999 yuan.
(Draft: Yan Cui)
From the perspective of the price increase strategy, Apple's price increase strategy this year is the same as last year's iPhone 14 series price increase strategy, that is, the starting price does not increase the price, and the price of the 256G version and above is increased to varying degrees.
On the eve of the conference, it is widely expected that the iPhone 15 will increase in price due to factors such as hardware configuration upgrades and raw material price increases.
Apple's third fiscal quarter of fiscal 2023 (second quarter of 2023) achieved revenue of $81.8 billion, down 1.4% year-on-year, and net profit of $19.9 billion, up 2.3% year-on-year, of which Apple's iPhone business achieved revenue of $39.669 billion, down 2.45% year-on-year, and iPhone revenue was lower than expected, with Apple's gross margin of 43.81% in the quarter.
"Apple relatively leaves a certain profit for suppliers, and all aspects are more standardized, single products, and large quantities, so despite the existence of the outside world's so-called 'Apple dependence', supply chain companies will not easily give up orders from Apple." The person in charge of a domestic "fruit chain" enterprise told the Securities Times · e company reporter.
It is understood that Foxconn, Industrial Fulian, Luxshare Precision, Lens Technology, BOE and other companies are the main suppliers of Apple iPhone products and Watch products.
High-end mobile phone market is changing?
IDC China senior analyst Guo Tianxiang said in an interview with reporters that the new generation of iPhone 15 series has undergone the largest upgrade in recent years in appearance and hardware configuration. The first time to be equipped with periscope lenses, the first to use Type-C interface, the first to use a mobile phone chip with 3nm process, the first time to match a titanium alloy frame... Although there are many "first" improvements, as Android manufacturers continue to invest in flagship products, the iPhone 15 series will undoubtedly face greater challenges, which is likely to change Apple's situation in China's high-end mobile phone market (unit price of more than $600, excluding tax benchmark, the same below) in the past few years.
Guo Tianxiang believes that although the upgrade and change of Apple's mobile phone in recent years is not obvious, and domestic Android manufacturers have made certain progress in China's high-end mobile phone market by relying on continuous technological innovation and brand image construction, Apple still has obvious advantages. In the future, with the return of Huawei and other domestic Android manufacturers striving to establish their own high-end product rhythm and high-end brand image, Apple will encounter greater challenges in China's high-end mobile phone market.
IDC data shows that in the first half of 2020, Huawei ranked first with 44.1% of China's smartphone market share in the price segment above $600, Apple at 44%, and other brands were far from these two, of which Xiaomi accounted for about 4% of the market share, and OPPO, Samsung and other market shares were less than 3%.
However, since Huawei was sanctioned in 2019, the high-end market pattern has quietly changed. According to CINNO Research data, in the first half of 2023, of China's domestic smartphone sales of more than 5,000 yuan, high-end smartphone sales of more than 5,000 yuan accounted for 23%, of which Apple accounted for 75%.
It is worth mentioning that the power of folding screen mobile phones, self-developed chips, etc., is one of the important paths for Android mobile phone manufacturers to compete for the high-end mobile phone market, and from the perspective of the high-speed growth of the folding screen mobile phone market, Android manufacturers have achieved certain results in the high-end market.
On July 27, IDC China released data showing that in the second quarter of 2023, when China's smartphone market shipments fell by 2.1% year-on-year, Huawei's mobile phone market share soared 76.1% year-on-year, equaling Xiaomi and tied for fifth. OPPO maintained the first place in China's domestic mobile phone market in the second quarter with a market share of 17.7%, followed by Vivo, Honor and Apple.
Editor-in-charge: Peng Bo
Proofreader: Dynasty Quan