To much media fanfare, Apple launched a new slate of product upgrades on Sep. 12th. While the reviews of the iPhone 15 were favorable, most focused on the "familiarity" of the upgrades and the improvements to existing features with less discussion about novel and disruptive features to the upgrades. Reflective of that dynamic were few price increases to the latest models. We are after all at a time where the consumer is very focused on value. “Value” is what the wireless carriers keyed on with the new handsets, with the Big 3 U.S. wireless carriers all offering “get one on us” in their advertising campaigns (below).
Thus far, we see no change to the store traffic cadence to any of the iPhone retail chains (below). And so, thus far it looks like the new launches from Apple have failed to awaken the consumer from their spending slumber/curtailment. This also comes at a time when many younger consumers are trying to figure out new budgets that now include a hefty student loan repayment. As such, this is a series that we will watch carefully over the next few weeks.
