iPhone iteration is accelerating, and Apple is brewing a product revolution

Ray Technology

2024-05-17 23:20Posted in Guangdong science and technology creators

The clarion call for war in the consumer electronics market has sounded.

Since April, the leaks about the iPhone 16 series have gradually increased, and at the same time, it has been accompanied by the full exposure of the iPhone SE 4, and even after the arrest of a leaked employee in April, the information that did not affect the iPhone is still leaking out with amazing efficiency.

Sometimes I have to wonder, is this intentional on the part of Apple? In order to inject confidence into the market in advance and stabilize the stock price, combined with the recently exposed information, Apple in 2024 seems to be brewing a product revolution.

iPhone 16, the strongest upgrade in history?

At present, the screen, processor, design, and imaging system of the iPhone 16 series have been exposed, and the standard version of the iPhone 16 series may be the most improved generation of iPhones in all generations.

Source: CNET

First of all, let's take a look at the screen, the screen has always been the dividing line between the standard version of the iPhone and the Pro version, just like Xiaolei said when the iPhone 15 was released: "It's hard to imagine that in 2023, the mobile phones sold from 5999 still don't support high brushing".

Since the iPhone 13 Pro supports a 120Hz refresh rate, after three iterations, Apple still hasn't put the high brush down to the standard version, and this may usher in the end of the iPhone 16 series. The latest news revealed that the iPhone 16 series may bring the high-brush screen to the standard version.

However, in order to keep the iPhone 16 Pro competitive, Apple may suspend the decentralization of the LTPO (Intelligent Refresh Rate Tuning) feature so that it will remain an exclusive feature of the Pro version. In addition, there are sources that the iPhone 16 standard version has a high brush of only 90Hz, which is lower than the 120Hz of the Pro version.

Source: TechRadar

In addition to 90Hz and no LTPO support, Apple also plans to make further upgrades to the iPhone 16 Pro's screen to expand its differences from the standard version. It is reported that the iPhone 16 Pro will get a 20% brightness increase and upgrade from 6.1 inches to 6.3 inches, and similarly, the iPhone 16 Pro Max will also be upgraded, and the screen size will reach 6.9 inches.

In terms of processors, the previously exposed A18 series processors have not improved much in traditional performance, judging from the data, the increase in multi-core and single-core is within 10%, and only GPU performance is more eye-catching, an increase of about 30%.

Source: Gemini

To make up for it, it is reported that Apple will greatly improve the AI performance of the A18, and will equip the iPhone 16 series with 8GB of RAM, and the memory bandwidth will also be increased from 51.2GB/s to 78.8GB/s, which is likely to prepare for the local AI model that will be deployed on the iPhone 16 series.

In terms of design, what has been confirmed so far is the addition of the camera button and the size change of the Pro version, and the rest of the design is basically unchanged, with right-angle bezels, dynamic islands, and the screen bezels have become narrower, and there are no more changes in addition.

Source: X

It is worth noting that the iPhone 16's imaging system will be significantly upgraded, with significant improvements in sensor size, lens design and other aspects, combined with the addition of exclusive camera buttons, imaging performance should be the core selling point of the iPhone 16 Pro series.

In addition to the iPhone 16 series, the iPhone SE 4 is expected to be launched this year, and as Apple's "low-end" series, the iPhone SE 4 has also ushered in a comprehensive upgrade. Judging from the current information, this product will use the exterior design of the iPhone 15, paired with the Face ID of the iPhone 13, equipped with the A16 processor of the iPhone 14 Pro, and is expected to run with 6GB of RAM.

Source: ePrice

To be honest, the iPhone SE 4 can no longer be described as an "upgrade", in fact, you can think that Apple has reversed the entire SE series in order to seize the mid-range market, and created a competitive iPhone. The iPhone SE 4 has almost no shortcomings except for image performance, and if the pricing of the previous generation continues, it may have a significant impact on the mid-range and sub-flagship markets of Android phones.

Whether it is the functional experience or hardware parameters, the iPhone SE 4 is upgraded to be the largest in history, and the overall acceleration of the iPhone 16 series seems to indicate that Apple's product strategy is undergoing a fundamental shift.

Apple, step on the gas

In Q4 2023, global iPhone sales will decrease by 15% year-on-year, and in Q1 2024, global iPhone sales will decrease by 18% year-on-year.

For Apple, this data is shocking, although there are reasons behind the overall decline in global mobile phone sales, but the decline in the competitiveness of the iPhone itself, the lack of user motivation to change the phone and other problems are still the main factors. Moreover, the highly anticipated Vision Pro did not achieve the expected results, and less than 4 months after its release, people seem to have stopped paying attention to Apple's "epoch-making" products.

Source: Apple

The voice of users and market data show that Apple has reached the time when it must adjust its product strategy, adjust user expectations, and enhance the competitiveness of its products. In fact, after the Vision Pro sales fell short of expectations, it can be seen that Apple has begun to actively adjust its strategy, first to launch a wide range of promotional activities in the Chinese market, and then to further adjust the product differentiation strategy.

Obviously, the significant upgrade of the iPhone 16 series and iPhone SE 4 is one of the results of the differentiation strategy, which uses a large iteration of hardware to prompt users to pay more attention to new products and stimulate the desire to change phones, rather than switching to the more affordable predecessor model.

For the mobile phone market, the iterative acceleration of the iPhone will further intensify the competition in the mid-to-high-end market, especially in the Chinese market, as the world's largest single mobile phone market, the competition in the Chinese mobile phone market has been very fierce, and Apple's product strategy change and price reduction promotions are bound to make the competition more intense.

Source: Fast Technology

On a global scale, the competitiveness of the iPhone will also be significantly enhanced, especially in markets such as Europe and the United States, the competitiveness of Android brands such as Samsung is not high, and if Apple launches a low-cost iPhone, it has the opportunity to seize a considerable piece of the mid-range market cake.

In addition to the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iMac and other products may also usher in certain changes, but compared with the mobile phone market, the competition in the PC and tablet market is much less, and Apple may not have much incentive to accelerate iteration.

AI, Apple's new darling

AI, you can see this word at the press conference of every head Internet company, Google held a press conference some time ago, the agenda of the nearly two-hour meeting mentioned 121 times "AI", Xiaomi, Samsung, OPPO, Huawei and other Apple's main competitors, all of which are positioning AI as the core function of future products.

As early as 2021, Apple has begun to develop AI large models, and will gradually apply the results to Siri and other functions in the future.

Source: HardwareZone

On the upcoming release of iOS 18, it is expected to be equipped with a number of Apple's self-developed AI functions for the first time, and the first to support the local deployment of AI large models, according to the previously exposed news, Apple is in contact with OpenAI, Baidu and other companies to promote cooperation in AI large models.

At the same time, Apple has also frequently reported about AI recently, with reports that Apple is negotiating data authorization with multiple institutions, hoping to obtain more data to train its self-developed AI models. In addition, Apple is accelerating the development of AI intelligent hardware and promoting the application of AI in hardware and ecosystems such as Vision Pro and HomeKit.

Judging from the information disclosed by Apple so far, only A18 series, M3, M4 and other processors may support local AI large model deployment in the early stage, and this will also lead to some AI functions that rely on local AI large models, which may be absent from old versions of iPhone, iPad and Mac PC.

Source: Apple

While cloud-based AI models are also an option, Apple's concerns about privacy and security may be an obstacle, at least until Apple confirms that it can effectively prevent user privacy leaks, and some key AI features may only be deployed on iPhone 16 and later.

Taking advantage of the differentiation of hardware and AI functions, this year may be a watershed moment for Apple's products and the beginning of Apple's AI era.

封面来源:TechRadar

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