Apple could rush the iPhone 14 to beat the recession
Apple is gearing up to launch a new series of iPhones on September 7, but that may not do much to cement its reputation as a pioneer in mobile biometrics.
The launch event date is coming by way of Bloomberg and his anonymous “knowingly” sources, while BGR concluded that the official release date for iPhones would likely be September 16, based on Apple’s track record.
The schedule sets the iPhone 14 up for an unusually early launch relative to the calendar year, and – as Gordon Kelly of Forbes notes – this is somewhat surprising, given that a global chip shortage has disrupted mobile device supply chains.
Renowned TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has an interesting guess as to why Apple is rushing to market for its new iPhone. “Global recession risk is always growing and unpredictable, so announcing/shipping iPhone as soon as possible can minimize the impact of recession risk on demand,” he said. tweeted.
In other words, the analyst thinks Apple wants to start selling its new iPhones while consumers still have some disposable income, anticipating a tough winter. This is a perhaps cynical assumption; but with much of Europe on track to soaring energy prices as the weather gets colder, the economic logic seems to make some sense.
If Apple is really rushing its new products onto store shelves, it could mean some trade-offs in terms of what the company is able to squeeze through in an expedited timeframe. Forbes’ Kelly points to the iPhone 14 Max as a likely “victim,” given that it’s already thought to be late. And it looks like the iPhone models hitting store shelves will only be cosmetic, iterative upgrades from the previous year’s devices, with Bloomberg predicting better cameras and faster processors.
This likely means there won’t be anything new in store when it comes to biometric technology. Apple had helped catalyze the mobile biometrics revolution with its launch of the fingerprint-scanning iPhone 5s in 2013, and it continued to catalyze the selfie biometrics revolution with its launch of Face ID in 2017. But the company is now far behind its rivals in the growing in-display fingerprint sensor trend, and Ming-Chi Kuo doesn’t seem to think Apple’s in-screen Touch ID will be realized in a commercial iPhone before 2024.
That said, the new operating system for upcoming devices, iOS 16, is reportedly ready to go and will bring an important new authentication feature. Unveiled at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple’s new Passkeys will essentially create cryptographic keys for individual online accounts that are stored on a user’s mobile device and tied to their biometric authentication system. . This means that a user can easily log into an online account with face or fingerprint scan, but not in-screen fingerprint scan.
Sources: Forbes, MacObserver, Bloomberg, BGR
