Apple prepares to release ‘newest member of the family’
Apple chief executive Tim Cook will unveil a new product next week, sending the tech giant’s stock as much as 2 per cent higher.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook will unveil a new product next week, sending the Apple stock as much as 2 per cent higher on Friday morning (local time).
Mr Cook said: “Get ready to meet the newest member of the family”, posting a video of a metallic Apple logo on X.
The launch is set to happen next Wednesday (US time). No further details were given.
Speculation has been mounting Apple is preparing to release a new low-end iPhone, with stores running low on stock of its entry level SE — which is priced from $719 — a big sign a new product is coming.
Samsung teased at a new slim Galaxy S25 phone, called the Edge, at its own product launch in Apple’s backyard at San Jose last month — setting the scene for a big year in smartphone launches.
Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 13, 2025
Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch pic.twitter.com/0ML0NfMedu
Apple shares were trading 2 per cent higher on Friday morning, valuing the company at $US3.63 trillion ($5.75 trillion).
iPhone sales eased almost 1 per cent in the December quarter, compared to the previous corresponding period, to $US69.1bn, a miss from the $US70.7bn analysts expected, according to FactSet.
The company has been betting on the release of its AI offering Apple Intelligence — which arrived in Australia in December — to boost iPhone sales, with Mr Cook saying it will make using its devices “profoundly different”.
It is expected Apple will also release a new slim phone this year. Samsung didn’t give a precise release date for its thin device but Samsung executive vice president Sally Hyesoon Jeong said it would be available the “first half of this year”.
Ms Hyesoon Jeong said the S25 Edge highlighted the “competitiveness of our hardware engineering”.
“In the past, making it thin, there were some give and take and there were also some pros and cons to that,” she said.
“Some aspects had to be offset. But now, even if we make it thin, we can still have the good camera functions. And this is all due to engineering technology developing.
“In the past, people … wanted good camera capabilities. Some people that were using UItra thought it was a bit heavy. So therefore we’re experimenting with Edge and through Edge we’ll continue to monitor the response of the users and build on that.”
Apple’s impending product launch comes as it released its streaming platform on rival Android devices this week, and will let customers pay for subscriptions on Google Play accounts, as regulatory pressure mounts to open up its tightly-controlled ecosystem.
The Apple TV app and streaming service Apple TV+ will be available on Samsung phones and tablets and Google Pixels or any device that supports Android 10 or later.
Apple says it has built the app from the “ground up to deliver Android users a familiar and intuitive interface”.
The world’s most valuable company has been under pressure to open up its ecosystem, including allowing payments outside its own system in Australia, Britain and Europe.
On Thursday, Apple said the Apple TV app and Apple TV+ service would be available on Android devices globally and would offer users a seven-day free trial.
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