iPhone 14 may reportedly be announced on September 7 as against the previous alleged date of September 13. While it may not look like a big deal to us, but from Apple’s point-of-view, an early announcement and shipment could help the company minimise the impact of recession risk on demand, as per known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He also says that early announcement/ shipping date could be one of the reasons why Apple offered a positive outlook for the third quarter of 2022 (3Q22) in the last earnings call.
Kuo tweeted that since the “global recession risk is still growing and unpredictable,” a move to announce/ ship the iPhone 14 series of smartphones as soon as possible may minimise the impact of recession risk on demand. Apple typically announces iPhone models and other products such as Apple Watch and these products are released in stores about a week and a half after they are unveiled. Apple is expected to stick to that pattern this year.
The news comes two days after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman cited people with knowledge of the matter as saying that Apple is aiming to hold a launch event on September 7 to unveil the iPhone 14 line. iPhones are said to generate more than half its sales. Gurman says that Apple is updating its flagship product at a time when consumers cope with inflation and a shaky economy. But it is said to have been faring better than its peers.
This is echoed by a report, which claims that Apple has successfully minimised the effect of supply chain constraints in its product launches as compared to all other players in the market. “Of course, some products such as Studio Display and new MacBooks suffered a bit from availability, but the Cupertino company was able to handle iPhone shipments pretty well,” the report said.
Apple is expected to launch four models in its iPhone 14 series: iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Reports have suggested that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max could get a $100 price hike (roughly Rs. 8,000) in comparison to last year’s iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.