Apple is scheduled to launch its highly anticipated iPhone 16 lineup on Monday, shifting its focus from hardware upgrades to artificial intelligence (AI) features.
The event is set to take place at Apple Park headquarters, follows the company’s developer conference in June, where it introduced Apple Intelligence, its generative AI technology.
CEO and principal analyst at Creative Strategies, Ben Bajarin, said “The Chinese market is hungrier for AI features than the U.S. market,”
“It will be very difficult to bring it to China immediately, so they’ll be going off the merits of the hardware.”
The new devices would feature an improved version of voice assistant Siri, integrated with ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
However, the integration may be impacted by OpenAI’s decision to block access to ChatGPT in China in July.
Apple’s emphasis on AI came as iPhones face increasing competition from Huawei in China, where consumers are willing to pay for AI features. Huawei has scheduled its own product announcement shortly after Apple’s event.
“The software side, and how Apple frames it, is the biggest question,” said Bajarin. “Investors will look for if it’s compelling enough to have a larger than normal upgrade cycle.”
The iPhone 16 lineup is crucial for Apple, as iPhones accounted for over half of the company’s $383 billion sales last year.
The new devices would be the first Apple smartphones designed around AI features, which will also be available on iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
Rivals, including Alphabet’s Google, are also showcasing AI features to challenge Apple’s dominance in the high-end smartphone market. Google has pushed its Pixel smartphone announcement to August, ahead of Apple’s event.
Boluwatife Enome
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