The year 2024 begins for Apple with many open fronts. Software updates, products to renew, new features to launch and a lot of challenges to overcome by Tim Cook.
Hint
The iPhone is starting to struggle
2024 will not be an easy year for Apple due to the large number of open fronts. On the one hand, the revenue numbers might once again not be as positive as they usually are at this company, since this one is expected to be the fifth consecutive quarter in which revenue declined from the previous year and the second Christmas period, the most important for the company, during which revenues decrease again compared to periods in other years. It appears iPhone sales aren’t what they used to be, largely because sales in China will fall less than expected. The company itself had already warned of this in its previous report, and this is more than a hint of what could happen. We cannot forget that we come from a year in which the launch of the iPhone 14 was affected by significant manufacturing issues due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales figures for the iPhone 15 which only increase slightly compared to those of last year would therefore be quite disappointing for the markets.
The year 2024 will end with a new iPhone 16, the rumors of which do not fuel too much optimism to be able to reverse this situation of “stagnation” (at least) in iPhone sales. Apple’s next phone isn’t expected to bring too many new features, at least in terms of hardware. Apple surely manages to make us believe that the changes are important, but The reality is that the next iPhone 16 should be very similar to current models, too similar according to all the rumors that appear. The main changes would come from the software, with artificial intelligence as the main claim, but it remains to be seen whether this advancement will convince buyers to upgrade their phones to the new model.
There will still be a large number of users who want to upgrade to the iPhone 16 from an iPhone 12 or even earlier, but for the phone to break sales records again, they will have to offer something really interesting for buyers with newer phones, or even with phones from other brands, and software level changes generally don’t have this impact. Apple should reserve many new iOS 18 features for the latest iPhone models in a way that “forces” those who want to use these new features to upgrade to the new model, which will surely not be well received by users who generally accept these decisions with great reluctance.
Artificial intelligence, finally, but late
Including one feature after another is generally a common thing at Apple. While other brands rush to announce new, often rudimentary, features, Apple typically waits until things work the way they should before including them in its new products and services. But with artificial intelligence (AI), it comes too late. For years we have been using AI in our Apple devices, at least one of its variants, so-called machine learning. Predictive text on the keyboard, suggestions in Music, the Maps app telling us where we want to go without having to ask… all this and much more is already part of our daily routine when we use the iPhone. But AI has long been ahead of these functions with what we call Generative AI.one who is capable of creating texts or images, for example.
We already know ChatGPT very well, or the applications from Microsoft or Google, or even the new Alexa from Amazon, which use this AI to improve their responses and offer us quick solutions to our requests. Apple has been testing for a year now what we will likely see in June, at WWDC 2024, and which will be included in iOS 18 and the rest of Apple’s operating systems. This is one of Apple’s great hopes for 2024, and we are undoubtedly expecting some interesting surprises in their announcement with features that leave us speechless, but they waited too long. Especially with its virtual assistant, Siri, which is still limited to overly basic functionalities which often ruin products like the HomePod, a good quality but not very intelligent speaker. And if we pay attention to the rumors, what we will see in 2024 will only be an introduction to this type of AI, because we will have to wait until 2025 to see what Apple really has in store for us. Too much waiting time.
New products
The big star of 2024 will be Apple’s mixed reality glasses, the Apple Vision Pro. The few who have had the opportunity to try them say truly wonderful things about them, but it will not be a product that will arrive to solve any problem, since their price and availability will prevent them from being anything other than a news headline generator, but with little impact on company revenue and users. They are expected to go on sale next month, but limited to the United States and priced at $3,499. Of those who read this article, I think very few will wait until they go on sale to buy them. Will developers bet on a new product with such a small market? The beginnings are not going to be easy for this product, we will see how it behaves.
The rest of Apple’s products are rather stagnant. Only a few Macs are expected to be renewed, with Apple Silicon processors stagnating somewhat after an undoubtedly impressive start due to their excellent performance. The new MacBook Air, with its much more affordable price than the Pro but with excellent performance, is the company’s great hope to achieve good sales figures in its IT segment. The iPad Pro, very limited because of iPadOS, will be renewed with new OLED screens according to rumorsbut its price has already reached levels that are too high for most users, and these changes aren’t exactly good news for those hoping for its price to drop.
New versions of AirPods and AirPods Pro are expected, which will surely be the kings of wireless headphones throughout this year, there is no doubt about it. The AirPods 4 could arrive in 2024 because that’s the deadline for switching to USB-C, but the AirPods Pro 3 already have this port in their charging case, so they might not be renewed until 2025. Regarding the additional Apple premium headphones, AirPods Max have been almost completely discontinued by the company without new features that left them behind in performance compared to the much more affordable AirPods Pro 2. There is an urgent need to renew these $579 headphones which don’t even allow lossless audio via cable, which is really annoying.
The Apple Watch could be the only fresh wind in 2024, because it is the tenth anniversary of its presentation, so we could have an Apple Watch The bad news is that this redesign would only affect the “normal” model, not the Ultra, which is the one many of us have fall in love. Regarding health news, this could include the possibility of measuring blood pressure, we will see how far this functionality goes.
