“Apple introduced iPhone X as the future of the smartphone; and for good reason,” Gene Munster writes for Loup Ventures. “iPhone X will ship on November 3, roughly six weeks after we had previously expected. We estimate that some users (about 20% of all new iPhone buyers) will opt for the iPhone X over iPhone 8 and previous models. The ship date likely won’t have a material impact on the number of units sold, but will push some unit sales into the March quarter.”
“But we’re looking beyond the smartphone, wondering how the core technologies shown today will help Apple enable a post-smartphone world,” Munster writes. “To be clear, we expect the smartphone to remain a dominant computing platform for many years, but a transition to the future of computing is clearly underway.”
“Underneath features like the new iPhone X unlock method, called Face ID, is a set of revolutionary 3D-sensing technology that will enable entirely new experiences with – and through – our devices. As Jony Ive said, ‘[Augmented Reality] will redefine what’s possible,'” Munster writes. “Apple’s other big announcement, Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE connectivity, also shows us where the company is positioning itself to win in a post-smartphone world. Apple pitched Apple Watch Series 3 as a device that frees you from your iPhone. Stepping back, the capabilities of the device are astounding, and they hint at a future more dominated by wearable computing devices that enable most of what we can do with our smartphones today, and more.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) requires an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 11 or later. Wireless service plan required for Apple Watch cellular service and your Apple Watch and iPhone service provider must be the same. Roaming is not available outside your carrier network coverage area. Check www.apple.com/watch/cellular for participating wireless carriers and eligibility.
The phone in its current form is going to vanish
Apple Watch is th future of the phone – not the iPhone X.
Wearable communications that integrate with clothing is the future and the new cellular Apple Watch is going in that direction.
Until there’s a way to take photos, read ebooks, browse the web, and use the millions of apps people use for mobile computing without compromises, the prophecies about the current iPhone form factor vanishing are overblown. My Watch and AirPods are great, but they augment my iPhone, they haven’t replaced a single aspect of it.
Nick:
Exactly. Why are people so bent on trying to “prove” ever smaller mobile devices “must” replace what came before.
Look around you people. Smartphones were supposed to replace desktop computers: they haven’t. Tablets were supposed to replace desktops and laptops: they haven’t. Jumbo smartphones were supposed to replace tablets: they haven’t.
The fact that Apple makes two entirely different operating systems should be your first clue that one does not replace the other.
The reasons are simple: screen size, power, and precision. The Watch is a joke. You would never, for instance, create a billboard advertisement on it. Neither would you do that on an iPhone. You also wouldn’t write a novel on an iPhone. You also wouldn’t use Apple Watches as your sole screens for a security video room. Etc etc.
There are many things that people do with computers where a little watch or touch based phone are simply not suitable for.
All of these devices co-exist together: they are not mutually exclusive, just like trucks are cars aren’t.
The desktop PC is not going anywhere for all of these reasons.
It’s kind of like the pursuit of the “theory of everything”, some people want one device that will do everything for them, as if they hope to find inner peace or God through technology.
Uhhhh…no. The iPhone isn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Wearable tech will be complimentary, not a replacement, for a variety of reasons.
I can agree the iPhone will not be disappearing anytime soon. However, I think with more devices that can connect directly to the cloud the iPhone becomes less important as a ‘hub’. In Apples case since the Secure Enclave is core, it may take a bit longer than competitors to move the ‘center’ of a user’s virtual identity to the user’s cloud account.
The future will involve a wearable of some sort being a gateway for visual data presented closer to a users eyes. The perception (augmented reality) of high cost hardware will replace the need for the actual high cost hardware. It’ll be a software and optics defined world. The IT world moving to a cloud/co-lo based model is the beginning of this transformation.
I would be surprised if Apple is not looking at contact lenses that can display data streamed from a wearable super imposed on a users view of the world.