Apple != iPhone

Mobile mostly a means to an end?

Get It Try It

Sure, they still talk about iPhone and iPad, but Apple's focus is elsewhere today. Now with customers buying fewer of their products, and now with Huawei, Samsung, and Google growing their own markets in India and China, Apple's response is higher prices and new services.

This was apparent at today's 'event'. They didn't start with mobile news - no, they started with news of games, news, and television. They started with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.

This era of streaming wars means lots of television series. This is serious business for the companies involved, and the competition is getting merciless.

Ultimately this is about how many such services the viewers want. And what it will all cost. And which of the companies will collapse first.

Success for Apple is more than iPhone slofies. It's more about what happens in the trade war with China. There are few companies in the US that are more dependent on China than Apple.

According to Reuters, 92% of Apple hardware is manufactured in China. Apple Watch and the ear pods are already hit by a 15% tariff, and as of 15 December this will apply to iPhone as well.

The prices on iPhone 11 show that the richest company in the US chose to see this trade war more as a cost to absorb than something to pass on to the consumer - as opposed to other more fragile companies.

The iPhone is still important for Apple, counting for nearly half their revenues, but more and more it's becoming a way to sell other things.

See Also
Industry Watch: Apple Special Event — September 10, 2019