Apple is looking for an iPhone replacement product

Apple is looking for an iPhone replacement product Picture 1

Just a year ago, Apple's list of future products looked rich. Vision Pro has not yet been released. Smart home devices are in the research process. Meanwhile, Apple's first electric car finally looks like it's about to become a reality.

However, the story is now very different from before. Although Vision Pro has been officially sold, this is not yet a cult product. The Apple car project has been canceled, along with plans to produce next-generation smartwatch screens. Processor performance has begun to stagnate, while Apple is still lagging behind in the smart home market.

To make matters worse, Apple's competitors like Microsoft and Alphabet's Google have made great strides in the field of generative AI, making consumers and investors very excited. Meanwhile, Apple is still on the sidelines.

The pressure is always on Apple to be at the forefront

Apple's business activities still depend heavily on the iPhone, accounting for more than half of its revenue. However, sales of this product have stagnated, making the goal of finding a new key product more urgent than ever.

In fact, Apple has been in this situation before. The first iMac got the company on track in the late 1990s, while the iPod launched the tech company into the consumer electronics market in the early 2000s. Then came the iPhone, which transformed Apple. into the giant it is today, and the iPad gives this company a place in users' lives that is hard to replace.

Although Apple has started to make more money from online services and other segments, it is still fundamentally a company that sells devices. During the most recent shopping season, 4/5 of the company's revenue came from products such as iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods. Services like the App Store, TV+ and Apple One still rely on iPhones and other devices. That's why the company must always be at the forefront of hardware innovation.

Apple's electric car, if realized, will be considered an 'ultimate mobile device'. This is an area with a lower profit margin than the iPhone, but the resale price is very high, up to 100,000 USD/unit. Even if Apple only sells a fraction of the number of cars that Tesla does, it could still become a $50 billion operation, equivalent to the combined profits of iPads and Macs.

The Vision Pro headset brings Apple into the mixed reality market, also known as spatial computing. But its biggest potential is to replace Macs and iPads, rather than become an entirely new revenue stream. For the device to make any major strides in the future, the company will have to develop a cheaper Vision Pro line. Ideally, bring it to market within the next 2 years.

Apple raises hopes in completely new markets

But looking at the positive side, now that the Vision Pro has shipped and the electric car project has been canceled, Apple has more space to refocus on the consumer electronics market. According to Bloomberg , a potential opportunity for Apple in this field is AI robots. The news site said that Apple is researching the idea of ​​​​creating personal robotic devices, equipped with artificial intelligence.

The corporation has formed teams in the hardware engineering department and AI organizations specializing in robotics research. A recent project involving a home robot shows that this product can track users moving around the house.

Insider sources even suggest that Apple could get into humanoid technology and build a machine that can do housework. But the changes may take another decade to complete. It seems like Apple hasn't even internally agreed to go in that direction yet.

Therefore, Apple may now make major improvements to existing product lines from size, color to new device configurations. Along with that are accessories that can capture more revenue from the iPhone. This is the key to the success of the American corporation when Tim Cook was still CEO.

According to Bloomberg , 2024 is also set to be the year of the iPad. The new iPad Pro model, iPad Air, new generation Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil are products expected to launch in the first week of May. This is one of the biggest updates to the Apple tablet line in recent years. recent year. The iPad Pro hasn't changed much since 2018.

Apple engineers are also working on folding iPads. Currently, this initiative is only in its early stages. Technology companies have not yet found a way to create foldable screens without wrinkles like models from Samsung. According to Bloomberg , if that problem cannot be resolved, Apple may decide to completely eliminate the folding screen idea.

Samuel Daniel

Update 11 April 2024