Apple has sought to maintain its run of record iPhone sales with a series of new models that boost battery life and feature advanced cameras.
The world’s most valuable company unveiled four new “iPhone 13” handsets that featured few significant design changes in a relatively subdued virtual launch event.
The lack of major changes may lead to questions about whether Apple can continue a streak of booming revenues it has enjoyed during the pandemic, which has in large part been down to strong sales of last year’s iPhone.
While the iPhone 12 released a year ago featured upgrades such as 5G connectivity, bigger screen sizes and a magnetic charging system, the biggest design changes in the iPhone 13 released last night were a marginally smaller camera system on the front of the display, and a cosmetic change to its rear cameras.
Apple instead sought to play on consumers’ more everyday needs. The devices feature bigger batteries, which will allow for between 1.5 hours and 2.5 hours of extra life, and a “cinematic” mode that produces more dramatic, professional videos by changing how the camera focuses on objects.
Paolo Pescatore, a mobile analyst, said: “Apple has big boots to fill with the success of the iPhone 12. The biggest challenge will be maintaining a premium for what some users will see as incremental upgrades.”
However, he said that the company’s strong sales run was likely to continue. “While many will see some upgrades as incremental, there are millions of users who have yet to upgrade to 5G.”
