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Apple’s New MacBook AirApple
Apple is preparing what is easily the most highly anticipated earnings report of the season; and as the world’s most valuable company with a $1 trillion market cap, it stands to good reason. In fact, some analysts are forecasting that positive Apple earnings could spark a year-end stock rebound, after a recent broad market selloff. I would offer that we’ll likely be putting that hopeful theory to the test, as what I’ve seen of Apple’s recent strong product launch execution should have begun to build intrinsic momentum behind the brand, making a revenue impact late in Apple’s fiscal Q4.
With respect to Apple’s bread and butter iPhone sales, though they’ve been soft in recent quarters, Apple’s strategy of taking its handset business even more upscale and raising ASPs (Average Selling Price) should start to pay off. Frankly, it amazes me that the company can command a starting price of $999 for the iPhone XS and $1099 for the iPhone XS Max, when you consider there are similarly configured high-end Android offerings like the One Plus 6 and 6T, or Google’s Pixel 3/3XL for a little as half the price. However, clearly Apple brand loyalty defies market dynamics in multiple ways, as has been proven time and again. Further, I’d offer that though they’re ultra-pricey, if you’re a diehard iPhone customer, there is some justification for upgrading, not the least of which is Apple’s impressive A12 Bionic processor, which is easily one of the most powerful smartphone SoCs in market right now. Couple this with the fact that Apple’s lower cost, $799 iPhone XR wasn’t available for shipment until the October quarter and most of the initial shipments of iPhones will be weighted to these more profitable high end iPhone SKUs. We do need to remember to temper optimism here in general, because the iPhone XS and XS Max were introduced late in this past quarter for Apple, but again the momentum I think is still there.
Riding along behind projected iPhone sales growth, Apple’s wearables division has been making great strides and is the clear market share leader in a category that IDC recently reported was up by a robust 5.5 percent in Q2 this year. The Apple Watch Series 4 was met with broad general praise for its larger display, faster Apple S4 processor and new features, like its on board ECG heart monitoring and fall detector capabilities. In fact, many critics called the Apple Watch Series 4 the best smart watch currently on the market and it’s hard to argue, as long as you’re OK with its square chiclet style design. I personally prefer smart watches that look more like real timepieces, like Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch. However, if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem, and even if you’re not, you have to applaud Apple for delivering impressive refinement and innovation with the new Watch Series 4. I project these things were selling like hotcakes this past fiscal quarter for Apple, along with the rest of the company’s wearable accessories which have been on the upswing as of late as well.
New Apple Mac Mini Internal Storage Subsystem SpecsApple
Then we get to Apple’s Mac lineup and the new iPad Pro tablet. More recently, it has been easy to be critical of Apple and understand their slowly eroding PC market share, posting an 8.5 percent decline in calendar Q3. The company previously just wasn’t giving customers enough reason to either upgrade or make the switch to a new MacBook, Mac desktop or iPad. However, Apple’s MacBook and Mac Mini introductions this week leave me impressed. Not only has the company refined and upgraded its MacBook Air with a thinner display bezel but it also incorporates a much higher resolution 2560X1600 panel, along with some great new features on board the machine itself, like Apple TouchID, the new T2 security chip and yes thankfully Intel’s latest 8th Generation Core series processors. The Mac Mini also got a much-needed breath of platform life in this way, with Intel 6-Core Coffee Lake CPUs, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and up to a 2TB SSD.
Apple’s New iPad ProApple
Finally, there’s the new iPad Pro. I have to admit, Apple has me a little excited for a tablet again. I still don’t know how they get away with pricing here, starting at $799, but again this product is certainly good for shareholders in terms of profitability. Regardless, the new iPad Pro offers some serious upgrades, with a thinner bezel, edge-to-edge glass, high-resolution display design, along with a major boost in performance courtesy of Apple’s 8-core A12X Bionic processor. Roll in the updates to the Apple Pencil with its magnetic attachment and charging, Face ID login and what? Even a USB-C port? Did hell freeze over when I wasn’t looking? This appears to be a truly next generation tablet device that feels worthy of customer attention, just in time for the holidays of course.
So again, there’s a lot of pure buzz and momentum behind Apple products now, and it has been building for at least the last quarter or so. I think we’ll see some of that halo product glow spill over into Cupertino’s earnings report tomorrow and of course an even bigger flash in calendar Q4, once more of these new Apple devices have been shipping in market. The only mystery number is Apple’s services business, but one would think iCloud and the like should start picking up steam as more and more Apple devices tap into it. It will be interesting to watch after the bell tomorrow, that’s for sure.
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Apple’s New MacBook AirApple
Apple is preparing what is easily the most highly anticipated earnings report of the season; and as the world’s most valuable company with a $1 trillion market cap, it stands to good reason. In fact, some analysts are forecasting that positive Apple earnings could spark a year-end stock rebound, after a recent broad market selloff. I would offer that we’ll likely be putting that hopeful theory to the test, as what I’ve seen of Apple’s recent strong product launch execution should have begun to build intrinsic momentum behind the brand, making a revenue impact late in Apple’s fiscal Q4.
With respect to Apple’s bread and butter iPhone sales, though they’ve been soft in recent quarters, Apple’s strategy of taking its handset business even more upscale and raising ASPs (Average Selling Price) should start to pay off. Frankly, it amazes me that the company can command a starting price of $999 for the iPhone XS and $1099 for the iPhone XS Max, when you consider there are similarly configured high-end Android offerings like the One Plus 6 and 6T, or Google’s Pixel 3/3XL for a little as half the price. However, clearly Apple brand loyalty defies market dynamics in multiple ways, as has been proven time and again. Further, I’d offer that though they’re ultra-pricey, if you’re a diehard iPhone customer, there is some justification for upgrading, not the least of which is Apple’s impressive A12 Bionic processor, which is easily one of the most powerful smartphone SoCs in market right now. Couple this with the fact that Apple’s lower cost, $799 iPhone XR wasn’t available for shipment until the October quarter and most of the initial shipments of iPhones will be weighted to these more profitable high end iPhone SKUs. We do need to remember to temper optimism here in general, because the iPhone XS and XS Max were introduced late in this past quarter for Apple, but again the momentum I think is still there.
Riding along behind projected iPhone sales growth, Apple’s wearables division has been making great strides and is the clear market share leader in a category that IDC recently reported was up by a robust 5.5 percent in Q2 this year. The Apple Watch Series 4 was met with broad general praise for its larger display, faster Apple S4 processor and new features, like its on board ECG heart monitoring and fall detector capabilities. In fact, many critics called the Apple Watch Series 4 the best smart watch currently on the market and it’s hard to argue, as long as you’re OK with its square chiclet style design. I personally prefer smart watches that look more like real timepieces, like Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch. However, if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem, and even if you’re not, you have to applaud Apple for delivering impressive refinement and innovation with the new Watch Series 4. I project these things were selling like hotcakes this past fiscal quarter for Apple, along with the rest of the company’s wearable accessories which have been on the upswing as of late as well.
New Apple Mac Mini Internal Storage Subsystem SpecsApple
Then we get to Apple’s Mac lineup and the new iPad Pro tablet. More recently, it has been easy to be critical of Apple and understand their slowly eroding PC market share, posting an 8.5 percent decline in calendar Q3. The company previously just wasn’t giving customers enough reason to either upgrade or make the switch to a new MacBook, Mac desktop or iPad. However, Apple’s MacBook and Mac Mini introductions this week leave me impressed. Not only has the company refined and upgraded its MacBook Air with a thinner display bezel but it also incorporates a much higher resolution 2560X1600 panel, along with some great new features on board the machine itself, like Apple TouchID, the new T2 security chip and yes thankfully Intel’s latest 8th Generation Core series processors. The Mac Mini also got a much-needed breath of platform life in this way, with Intel 6-Core Coffee Lake CPUs, Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and up to a 2TB SSD.
Apple’s New iPad ProApple
Finally, there’s the new iPad Pro. I have to admit, Apple has me a little excited for a tablet again. I still don’t know how they get away with pricing here, starting at $799, but again this product is certainly good for shareholders in terms of profitability. Regardless, the new iPad Pro offers some serious upgrades, with a thinner bezel, edge-to-edge glass, high-resolution display design, along with a major boost in performance courtesy of Apple’s 8-core A12X Bionic processor. Roll in the updates to the Apple Pencil with its magnetic attachment and charging, Face ID login and what? Even a USB-C port? Did hell freeze over when I wasn’t looking? This appears to be a truly next generation tablet device that feels worthy of customer attention, just in time for the holidays of course.
So again, there’s a lot of pure buzz and momentum behind Apple products now, and it has been building for at least the last quarter or so. I think we’ll see some of that halo product glow spill over into Cupertino’s earnings report tomorrow and of course an even bigger flash in calendar Q4, once more of these new Apple devices have been shipping in market. The only mystery number is Apple’s services business, but one would think iCloud and the like should start picking up steam as more and more Apple devices tap into it. It will be interesting to watch after the bell tomorrow, that’s for sure.
