it’s official! Apple to hold annual event for new iPhone series, more on September 14

The company announced the event on its websites and in invitations to the media, but like every Apple launch since 2020, it will also be streamed online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said the event, which has the tag line “California Streaming,” will take place next Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

“We’re streaming California on Sept. 14. See you soon,” tweeted Greg “Jose” Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant is preparing four new iPhones, as well as the larger-screen Apple Watch. Apple is also working on new entry-level AirPods earbuds and new MacBook Pros. Apple usually does several launches in the fall, so not every new device for 2021 may appear next week. Last year, Apple held three events in two months.

Since 2013, Apple has delivered new iPhones around September like clockwork. The tech giant, which last year launched a redesigned iPhone with 5G connectivity, isn’t expected to make radical changes this year, with most analysts pointing to small technical updates to the phone’s processor and camera system. Is.

“While the upgrade rate peaked on 5G in 2021, we expect upgrade rates to moderate, but still drive higher volumes in 2022,” JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee wrote in a note. They still expect a record year for high sales of the iPhone SE.

According to a report in Bloomberg, the new line of smartphones is expected to expand the Portrait Mode feature to video and higher quality video recording format.

Portrait mode uses the phone’s depth sensor to focus on faces while blurring the background, allowing amateur photographers to produce high-quality snaps.

Apple was not immediately able to comment ahead of an invitation sent to the media.

The launch in mid-September resulted in a surge in sales in the last week of Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter as millions of avid buyers snap up newly released iPhones.

Last year, however, the event was delayed by a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning iPhone sales over the opening weekend were not included in fourth-quarter results.

The event also helps Wall Street analysts model their sales projections for the holiday shopping season in Western markets, typically Apple’s biggest sales quarter.

Known for its spectacular phone launches packed with hundreds of journalists at its sprawling campus in Cupertino, Calif., Apple has turned to virtual events since last year due to the pandemic.