What to look out for at Apple's Sep 10 event
Apple's big fall launch event set for September 10th when we're likely to see new iPhones.
I'm Stephen Nellis with Reuters in San Francisco. At Apple's event in Cupertino in September, we're expecting to see new iPhones new Apple watches and other hardware updates. And while investors will be watching for the usual things like how many cameras the iPhone has, whether there are any new sensors on the device, they're also going to be watching for something that's become very important during the trade conflict between the US and China, and that is prices.
Apple usually introduces the new iPhone with a new price, and then they reprice the entire rest of the iPhone lineup, typically dropping older models by about one hundred dollars each year. Most years, that's a fairly predictable process. But this year will be smack in the middle of a conflict between the U.S. and China over tariffs. And investors will be watching closely to see if Apple does anything different with that pricing because of that trade war.
The other thing that we expect to see at this event in September from Apple is updates on its services business. Investors really like those services, because they give Apple a way to continue to make money off of its customers even if they haven't upgraded their phone.
Now that's also led to some interesting changes in Apple's business strategy. The company used to be all about selling a new phone to customers but now they're encouraging customers to hold onto those phones for a longer time and stay in the Apple ecosystem.
Just on Thursday Apple said that they would for the first time ever sell genuine Apple parts to independent repair shops. What that means is that that kiosk that you've seen in the mall or other independent shops that aren't an authorized service center will now have access to the actual Apple parts just like you would get if you went to the Apple store. It's part of Apple's bigger strategy to grow their installed base of people who have an iPhone buy as much as possible so they can sell them things like Apple Music or accessories like the air pods or the Apple Watch.
