Apple’s biggest product news we are about to hear next week may be a smaller iPhone.
The tech giant will host an event this coming Monday at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. There will be a lot of device talk, including updates to Apple’s most important product lines, the iPhone and iPad.
This will be the first time Apple has introduced an iPhone on two different occasions in the same year. On display next week will be a 4-inch handset known unofficially at the moment as the “iPhone SE,” which will become the cheapest new phone in Apple’s lineup.
The device comes as consumers are feeling ho-hum about phones. During the past six months, iPhone sales aren’t growing as they used to. Market researcher IDC expects worldwide shipments to rise only 5.7 percent this year to 1.5 billion, down from a 28 percent jump just two years ago.
Apple is hoping the smaller, cheaper iPhone will get consumers excited again, especially in emerging markets like India.
There are still a lot of users who haven’t upgraded their devices in years. More than half of the iPhones used in the US are the 2-year-old models or older, according to Kantar WorldPanel.
The smaller iPhone probably will look a lot like the 5S on the outside but with the guts of an iPhone 6 or 6S. It likely will support the Apple Pay mobile payments service but not some of the iPhone 6S’s features like 3D Touch, which lets the display respond to different levels of pressure.
The most anticipated feature of the new iPhone, though, is its pricing. Some analysts are hoping for a $350 price tag for the iPhone SE. We think the new iPhone SE will cost more like $450 – the same price as the iPhone 5S currently.
Updated 9.7-inch iPad
Apple released its hulking 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the petite 7.9-inch iPad Mini 4 last fall. On Monday it will introduce a follow-up to its iPad Air 2.
The additions would most probably be similar to the available new features in the iPad Pro, including Apple’s Smart Connector technology that supports an Apple-designed keyboard cover and an Apple Pencil stylus.
iPad sales have been in freefall for the past two years.
New Apple Watch bands or software
Apple’s tagline for Monday’s event is “Let us loop you in.” That could be nod to Apple’s headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop, but it could also be a hint about new Watch bands. We could see new colors and materials, as well as partnerships like those with fashion brand Hermes.
The company also may update watchOS, the software running on Apple Watches. New features could include being able to use many watches with one iPhone and improvements to Apple Maps.
Apple may use the event to introduce the iOS 9.3 mobile software, which has a feature called Night Shift that changes the display to make it “easier on your eyes” before you go to bed.
Most probably we will not hear much about iWatch 2 or iPhone 7, but you never know with Apple. There might be a surprise on the way.
