New Apple models have time on their side

TRUST in Apple’s brand and its innovative skills should see the new Apple Watch become a major success, analysts say.

TRUST in Apple’s brand and its innovative skills should see the new Apple Watch become a major success, analysts say.

Apple yesterday announced two larger iPhone models, the iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch screen, and the iPhone 6 Plus with an even larger 5.5-inch display. It also launched an Apple Watch that monitors activity and health and relays notification information from a connected iPhone, among a swag of applications.

Both iPhone 6 models have fine screen resolutions, Apple’s new faster A8 processor, and near field communication chips that let the phones be used for mobile payments.

INTERACTIVE: Sizing up the new iPhones

An M8 co-processor that remains on even when the phone is asleep manages activity monitoring sensors. The sensors include a barometer that measures activity-related altitude changes such as when climbing steps.

The release of both iPhone models a year after the iPhone 5S launch could not have come quickly enough for Apple, which has risked losing market share to updated models by rival Android competitors such as Samsung, LG and Sony.

The two iPhones will sell from September 19 and pre-orders begin Friday.

Figures by Australian market research firm Telsyte published in June found that Apple risked losing almost half its potential iPhone 6 customer base if it pumped out another iPhone with roughly the same screen size as the iPhone 5 or 5S with a 4.0-inch display.

With larger iPhone models now announced, Telsyte managing director Mr Fadaghi yesterday predicted Apple would sell about 1.5 million iPhone 6 units by year’s end — about 100,000 a week for the rest of the year.

But he said Apple’s Australian pricing, where only the iPhone 6 16GB model comes in below $999, might be a problem.

Apple Watch features a rectangular display with curved edges, a choice of leather, rubber and metallic bands, and there are three variants: a standard Apple Watch, a sports version and a premium Apple Watch Edition with 18 carat gold. The watch comes in two sizes.

Its most ingenious feature is a “digital crown”, which looks like an old fashioned circular watch winder. It works differently with different apps.

For example, it zooms the screen in and out when a user views a map. It also lets a user select their choice in a drop-down menu, or select the home screen of apps. A wearer also can interact with the watch by tapping or pressing the screen, or by using Apple personal assistant Siri’s voice recognition capability.

Mr Fadaghi said Telsyte believed Apple Watch would help the company attract and retain new iPhone customers.

Another research firm, Forrester, said that once fully launched, Apple Watch would dominate the wearables market through next year.

But Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the watch would not sell until next year.

* Chris Griffith travelled to the Apple event in Cupertino courtesy of Apple.