On Sept. 9, Apple held its annual fall hardware showcase event.
The Cupertino-based computing giant showed off its new iPhone 16 and 16 Pro line up, the Apple Watch Series 10 and Ultra 2 and the AirPods 4.
Each product, while still being touted as the most advanced iPhone, Watch or AirPods Apple has ever made, only seem to deliver minor upgrades over last year’s model (especially in the case of the iPhone).
As minor upgrades increasingly become the hallmark of each Apple release cycle, consumers are beginning to question whether an annual hardware release is still necessary.
While Apple’s profits are still sky-high, it is time for the company to re-evaluate its hardware release model.
For the sake of brevity, this article will narrow its focus to the iPhone, due in part to its status as Apple’s flagship product, owning a 52% share of company revenue per David Curry of Business of Apps. However, this article’s findings are still applicable in principle to the rest of Apple’s product line.
Per company data, iPhone sales growth was exponential from its initial release in 2007 up until 2015, where it has since plateaued aside from a peak in 2021 which was likely due to a post-pandemic supply rebound.
This decline in sales is due to a major market trend: consumers are holding onto their phones for longer with each passing year. According to Weston Blasi of MarketWatch, the average American keeps their phone for 2.67 years, up from 2.5 in 2015. Blasi presumes this figure will climb to three full years by 2027.
This increased lifetime of personal devices is perceived to have a couple major contributors.
The price of the mainline iPhone models has steadily increased since the initial release in 2007. The first iPhone cost $499 at base. The iPhone 8, the last mainline model with a home button, cost $699 at base. The last major price increase was the iPhone 11 Pro, releasing at $999, a figure which has been maintained since.
As previously mentioned, the magnitude of yearly upgrades has also decreased in recent iPhone generations. The iPhone receives what most consumers would call a “major redesign” every three to four years. Each new model in between delivers one or two marquee feature upgrades, in addition to a suite of quality of life improvements. For example, this year’s iPhone comes with a dedicated camera control button in addition to a new chip set up which is highly optimized for AI support. Coupled with new software updates being available on phones that are up to five or six years old, there just are not that many reasons to buy a new iPhone frequently.
These factors have also led to a decrease in something much more intangible than sales: hype.
Due to its size and brand caché, new Apple product and software releases command the attention of the media. However in recent years, the attention has almost become more begrudging than excited. Much like the Marvel film engine, Apple has not brought enough to the table to hold the media’s captivation in recent years. This lack of excitement drives sales down further.
My recommendation to Tim Cook and Apple (if I could somehow get a moment of their time) would be to slow down the release cycle to every two or three years. It would give consumers a more compelling reason to upgrade with each cycle and restore the hype to new releases.
Apple likely has no concern about continued profitability, nor does it face any meaningful market pressure to change its product releases. However, as an ardent fanboy, I cannot help but feel that changing the release schedule would aid in restoring the iPhone to its position of veneration in the tech world.
Apple is a successful company not just because it makes high-quality, innovative projects, but because of the brand image it has carefully cultivated. Dropping new hardware less often is a sure-fire way to bring back the hype they once had.
