Apple intends to hold an event on Sept. 7 to unveil the iPhone 14 lineup and unveil the latest version of a product that accounts for more than half of its sales, according to people familiar with the matter.
The new iPhones will kick off a busy fall product sales season, which will also include several new Macs, low- and high-end iPads, and three Apple Watch models.
Apple has updated its flagships at a precarious time for the industry. Smartphone sales are starting to slow as consumers grapple with inflation and a shaky economy. But Apple appears to be doing better than its peers: iPhones sold well last quarter, and the company has signaled to suppliers that it doesn’t expect demand to drop.
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant typically announces other products alongside the iPhone, including the latest Apple Watches. The company usually releases the new iPhone in stores about a week and a half after it’s unveiled, and Apple is expected to stick to that pattern this year. Some retail store employees have been told to prepare for a major new product release on September 16.
Apple shares rose nearly 1 percent to $174.54 in New York. The stock is down 2% this year, despite rebounding from sharp declines in recent months.
The company intends to live stream the event online — rather than hold an in-person meeting — continuing the approach it took in the early days of the pandemic. According to Bloomberg, Apple’s event is a delicate affair, and employees have started recording clips of the presentation in recent weeks.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment at the time of the incident. The company’s plans could change as the launch is still about three weeks away, but Apple typically unveils its latest iPhones in the first half of September.
The company held its most recent event in June to announce upcoming software updates — iOS 16, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9 and macOS Ventura — and invited media and developers to its campus to watch demo videos. The agreement is part of Apple’s slow transition to more normal operations, which includes a return to offices.
On Monday, the company informed its employees that starting September 5, they will have to work three days a week, two days before a planned product launch.
The standard iPhone 14 looks similar to the iPhone 13, though the company will do away with the 5.4-inch “mini” version and add a model with a 6.7-inch screen. This is the first time Apple has released a non-Pro iPhone with a display of this size.
The company is planning major changes to the iPhone 14 Pro lineup. Apple will replace the front-facing camera cutout called a notch with a pill-shaped hole for the Face ID sensor and a hole-sized area for the camera. This provides users with more screen real estate. The company also added a faster chip to the iPhone 14 Pro. Apple, on the other hand, will keep the iPhone 13’s A15 chip in the regular iPhone 14 models.
The main change in the iPhone 14 Pro is the camera system, which will be slightly larger in the eyes of consumers. The Pro model has a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera, as well as 12-megapixel ultra-wide and telephoto sensors. Apple also plans to improve video recording and battery life.
For the latest Apple Watches, known as Series 8, Apple will add features for women’s health and a body-temperature sensor. The standard watch will look similar to the Series 7, but a new pro model will go after sportier consumers. It will have a larger display, rugged titanium case, new fitness tracking features and more battery life. The company also is planning a new Apple Watch SE, its low-cost smartwatch, with a faster chip.
Also coming in September: iOS 16, the software that will run on the next iPhone, and watchOS 9, the next Apple Watch operating system. The company plans to launch macOS Ventura in October alongside iPadOS, the iPad operating system. The latter software was delayed by about a month, in part due to a bug related to the new multitasking system Stage Manager.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is working on a newer lower-end iPad with an A14 chip and a USB-C port, as well as a new iPad Pro with an M2 chip later this year. It also intends to launch a new Mac by the end of the year, as it works on versions of the Mac mini and MacBook Pro with M2 processors.