Apple ‘Wonderlust’ Event: Here’s What Markets Are Speculating About iPhone 15
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On Tuesday, Apple (NYSE: AAPL) will hold its “Wonderlust” event where it will unveil the iPhone 15 at the Steve Jobs Theatre at its headquarters in California. The event is widely awaited by Apple fans who eagerly await the details of the new iPhone every year. Here’s what markets are speculating about the iPhone 15.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 as well as Apple Watch Series 9 at the event which is usually held on a Tuesday. Subsequently, the company starts accepting pre-orders at Apple Store later in the week which is followed by sales at other channels. Notably, September is the last month in Apple’s fiscal year and the launch of the new model helps it buoy the sales in the quarter.
Apple iPhones could get a USB-C charging port
It’s widely believed that Apple would provide the USB-C charging port in iPhone which would replace the company’s proprietary Lightning port. The speculation is not without a reason as the European Union passed a legalization warranting gadgets like smartphones and tablets to support USB-C charging by 2024. The legalisation is aimed the reducing the complexity of handling too many chargers that consumers face.
Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight believes that “This is arguably the biggest disruption to iPhone design for several years, but in reality, it is hardly a dramatic move.” Notably, in the past, Apple also switched its Macs and iPads to USB-C charging.
Last year only, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak admitted that the company would need to comply with the regulations. He said, “We have no choice, like we do around the world, to comply with local laws, but we think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government [have] that perspective.”
Notably, US tech giants have been facing intense scrutiny globally – especially in the EU.
USB-C charging could help increase iPhone sales
Thomas Husson, a vice president at Forrester Research believes that the shift to USB-C charging might help propel iPhone sales and help convince some people to shift to an iPhone.
According to Wood, “Given how widely USB-C has been used in other devices, it’s hard to imagine that customers will be totally caught out by this switch, and in the long term, it’s likely to benefit them, with a universal charging system having some very obvious upsides.”
iPhone sales have been weak
Global smartphone sales have been tepid and Apple is no exception. In its fiscal third quarter of 2023, Apple said that iPhone sales totaled $39.67 billion which was 2% lower YoY. The metric fell short of the $39.91 billion that analysts expected and despite better-than-expected Services revenues and an overall earnings beat, Apple stock fell after the earnings release.
That said, iPhone sales have held off relatively well even as the global smartphone market is feared to hit a decade-low in 2023.
iPhone Pro models might get a titanium body
Markets are also speculating that the iPhone 15 Pro models might get a titanium body replacing the previous steel body. The speculations stem from the fact that the Apple logo on the event invitations looks like they are in titanium finish.
Apple might also improve the camera while coming up with more powerful chips for the new iPhone.
Apple might increase iPhone prices
The price increase for iPhone 15 might be modest considering the slump in smartphone sales and the continued macroeconomic slowdown. According to DigiTimes, “the pricing of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will not see much of a change from the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, but the Pro series is likely to suffer from a major price hike because of the chassis upgrades from stainless steel to titanium and the periscope lens upgrade, which is only for the Pro Max, for performing 5-6x optical zoom.”
iPhone 15 dimensions
According to MacRumors, the iPhone 15 might weigh 171 grams which is 1 gram lower than the iPhone 14. While the thickness of the two models is expected to be the same at 7.8 mm, the width of the iPhone 15 is expected to be 71.6 mm – 1 mm higher than the iPhone 14.
It adds, “The iPhone 15 Pro is expected to have thinner bezels due to the use of advanced display technology known as LIPO, an acronym for “low-injection pressure over-molding”
Analysts on Apple stock
Wall Street analysts are also looking forward to the iPhone 15 event and many have tweaked their target prices ahead of the official launch. Bank of America Samik Chatterjee lowered Apple’s target price by $5 to $230 while maintaining the overweight rating.
“We believe share price outperformance in the remainder of the year (particularly after a strong outperformance in 1H and underperformance between July and September) is dependent on beating what are now low investor expectations for the iPhone 15 launch,” he said in his note.
Chatterjee added, “We see upside in several aspects of the business as well as financials that remain underappreciated by investors, namely the transformation of the company to Services, growth in the installed base, technology leadership, and optionality around capital deployment — all of which together lead us to expect double-digit earnings growth and a modest re-rating for the shares.”
Apple stock has fallen from its highs
Meanwhile, optimism is building up ahead of the iPhone 15 event on September 12 and Citi said in its note that “We expect major hardware upgrades to iPhone 15 series include 3nm A17 chips for the Pro models, transition to USB-C port, upgraded camera, and increased memory and storage.”
Citi analyst Atif Malik who raised AAPL’s target price to $240 and opened a 90-day catalyst watch on the stock earlier last month also stressed that since 2016, the stock has outperformed the S&P 500 between the release date of fiscal third quarter earnings and the official iPhone announcement in September.
Meanwhile, Apple stock has fallen in recent days after China restricted the use of iPhones by central government employees. While the move might not significantly hit Apple’s sales in China, it has nonetheless raised fears that the company is not immune from the growing US-China rivalry.
