During Monday’s trade, Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), lost -1.81% to $111.12. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Its hardware products are the iPhone smartphone, the iPad tablet computer, the Mac personal computer, the iPod portable media player, and the Apple Watch smartwatch.
Recently Apple just publicly released the latest version of iOS 9, which comprises updates to Apple Music and a new interface for Apple News.
The new update to iOS 9, Apple’s latest mobile operating system, allows users to improve their music playlists, save songs offline and browse Classical music.
According to a report in Re/Code, Apple will also integrate Top Stories with ComScore, so that publishers will get credit for the clicks and views their content gets on the platform.
“Apple has recorded the biggest annual profit in corporate history, with record sales of the iPhone helping it to make $53.4bn (£35bn) in the last 12 months,” reports The Telegraph. “The world’s biggest company surpassed the $45.2bn made by ExxonMobil in 2008, after the release of its latest smartphones increased profits by 31pc in its fourth quarter. However, Apple warned that growth is likely to slow down significantly in the crucial Christmas period, and sales of the iPad fell by a fifth to their lowest level since 2011.”
“Fiscal 2015 was Apple’s most successful year ever, with revenue growing 28% to nearly $234 billion. This continued success is the result of our commitment to making the best, most innovative products on earth, and it’s a testament to the tremendous execution by our teams,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are heading into the holidays with our strongest product lineup yet, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch with an expanded lineup of cases and bands, the new iPad Pro and the all-new Apple TV which begins shipping this week.”
“Apple’s record September quarter results drove earnings per share growth of 38% and operating cash flow of $13.5 billion,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We returned $17 billion to our investors during the quarter through share repurchases and dividends, and we have now completed over $143 billion of our $200 billion capital return programme.”
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook took the time to detail where some of the company’s HUGE iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s sales came from. According to Cook, Apple is taking HUGE chunks out of Google’s Android partners and this is where the majority of new iOS users are coming from. Apple confirmed record sales and profits once again for Q4 2015.
Apple has traditionally launched its new handsets inside Q3/Q4. This has been the case for as long as most people can remember, but in 2016 there are rumours afoot that things could be about to change. A new report from the usually very reliable AppleInsider has all the details, but we have included the meat of the article below for the sake of brevity:
“Since the iPhone 5 launched on Sept. 21, 2012, all proceeding iPhone models have launched around that same late-September period. Most recently, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus arrived in the hands of consumers on Sept. 25,” reports Apple Insider. “But that pattern could end next year with an earlier launch, a reliable source told AppleInsider on Wednesday. The same person has, in the past, provided accurate information about the Apple’s future product plans.”
According to new information circulating as of November 20, the iPhone 7 may, in fact, be the first waterproof iPhone. The word comes via research and analytics firm TrendForce. The company’s report says waterproofing will be one of two defining new features, the other being the 3GB of RAM previously rumoured elsewhere. It also reiterates that we’ll see a third, 4in display iPhone model launched in 2016 (the rumoured iPhone 6c/iPhone 7c).
That mid-2016 date is a bit surprising because Apple has historically released new iPhones in the autumn. However, the iPhone 7 could be so readically redesigned, Apple might not want to detract from its marketing launch so much so that they think its worth unveiling the lower powered iPhone 6c (it almost certainly won’t be called the iPhone 7c if it comes out before the iPhone 7) mid-year-perhaps May or June.
“Apple will release the upgraded 4-inch iPhone C series in the second quarter of 2016,” reports BGR. “The next iPhone (currently dubbed “iPhone 7”) will be introduced in the second half of next year. The major selling points of the next iPhone will be the 3GB memory upgrade for the 5.5-inch model and waterproof feature. Based on TrendForce’s estimation, about 260 million iPhones will be shipped in 2016, representing an annual growth of 12.5% and a market share of 18.5%. With the smartphone market becoming less profitable, iPhone will still have the highest margin next year compared with products from rival vendors.”
According to Apple’s traditional cadence, new iPhone models debut in the fall. The 6S and 6S Plus were unveiled on September 9 and hit store shelves on September 25, and we have every reason to expect the next major update to come around the time that kids head back to school in 2016.
For the past several years, Apple’s iPhone updates have followed a predictable cycle: major design changes in even-numbered years, followed by “under the hood” tech upgrades that keep the same basic physical chassis in odd-numbered “S phone” years. For 2016, then, a total redesign is a near certainty — possibly with some dramatic innovations.
According to news report, KGI securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, whose predictions for Apple’s device releases have thus far been spot on, has published a new report on his predictions for Apple’s releases in 2016. Prior to discussing the iPhone 7, Kuo brought out his suspicion of Apple’s yet-to-be-released 4-inch handheld, which according to him will be fitted with an A9 SoC and due for a release on the first half of 2016. Techtimes Report
“As there is still demand for a 4-inch iPhone, we believe Apple will upgrade this product line,” MacRumors quotes Kuo. “Because the iPhone 5s is more popular than the iPhone 5c, we think Apple is likely to launch an upgraded iPhone 5s.”
As for the iPhone 7, the mostly spot-on forecaster predicts that it will be a full refresh. Not only does Kuo envision the iPhone 7 to be equipped with an A10 SoC, he goes on further by predicting that the iPhone 7 Plus will have 2GB and 3GB of RAM for obvious performance reasons due to a larger display. Both handhelds are suspected for a release in the third quarter of 2016.