CUPERTINO, United States: Apple unveiled three new iPhones on Wednesday in a bid to bolster its spot in the premium smartphone market, along with an upgraded smartwatch with added health features.
The California tech giant said it would begin selling its 5.8-inch iPhone XS and 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max later this month, keeping the starting price of the company's top-end model at US$999 (around 32,000 THB) but bumping the entry price for the version with the larger screen.
Apple also announced a new iPhone XR starting at $749 (around 24,000 THB), available in October, with a 6.1-inch display to broaden its pool of buyers.
The phones are updates to last year's iPhone X ("10"), which marks the 10th anniversary of the smartphone -- stretching the screen while keeping the overall handset size at or near that of previous models.
The new iPhones have more powerful processors and cameras, and a dual-SIM card feature for top-of-the-line devices. Home buttons were replaced with screen swipes, taps and facial recognition capabilities.
"We are going to take iPhone X to the next level," chief executive Tim Cook said.
While the iPhone has made Apple the world's most valuable company, worth more than $1 trillion, it has slipped to third place among smartphone makers as Chinese-based Huawei has grabbed the number two spot behind Samsung.
Apple said the XS models would be sold from Sept 21 and the XR from Oct 26.
Apple also introduced a fourth generation of the Apple Watch with a major redesign -- and a series of features designed to improve its performance as a medical and health device.
The watch, sold in the United States from $399 [around 13,000 THB] and up, will be available in stores on Sept 21.
"Apple Watch has become an intelligent guardian for your health," chief operating officer Jeff Williams said.
The smartwatches are able to detect hard falls, and an electrical heart rate sensor can take an electrocardiogram.
"This is the first ECG product offered over the counter directly to consumers," Williams said.
"Now you can take an ECG any time, anywhere, right from the wrist."
The fall detection upgrade is expected to appeal to worker safety concerns in factories or other industrial settings, as well as to elderly or disabled users.
"Identifying a fall may sound like a straightforward problem, but it requires a lot of data analysis," Williams said.
If a person falls, and then is motionless, the watch will call emergency services, he added.
Moorhead said the health features for the new devices were notable.
"I can see kids buying one for their parents and grandparents," he said of the smartwatch.
The current version of Apple Watch is the most popular watch in the world, according to Cook.
Apple stressed its devotion to data privacy, saying all health information gathered is encrypted on the smartwatch to be shared only as users see fit.
Apple's event comes with the global smartphone market at near-peak saturation, and without a major catalyst for sales ahead of a likely rollout of 5G, or fifth generation, wireless networks, expected in 2019.
Cook said Apple was nearing the two-billion mark for devices with its mobile operating system known as iOS.
"We are about to hit a major milestone. We are about to ship our two billionth iOS device," he said.
"This is astonishing -- iOS has changed the way we live."
