Apple's future lies in its software upgrade cycle: Analyst

Investors got a first look at Apple's (AAPL) newest offerings at the "It's Glowtime" event in Cupertino, California on Monday. Creative Strategies CEO and principal analyst Ben Bajarin joins Market Domination to discuss the launch of Apple's iPhone 16 and other devices, and how the company may be looking to further innovate.

"I think Apple just takes the conservative approach. I think it's hard because we're sort of out of the era where we're just amazed by hardware wizardry." Bajarin says of hardware upgrades. While competitors like Samsung (005930.KS) have released foldable phones, he envisions Apple making similar moves in the future.

In the meantime, he argues Apple has its focus on software and bringing AI capabilities to its products. This technology will help "solve some pain points and adds usefulness to their life because we're just squarely in a very software cycle right now with just the very hard challenge of year-over-year hardware innovations just getting more difficult," Bajarin explains.

He believes that the new AirPods could kick off a "very strong upgrade cycle" because of its redesign and new capabilities like active noise canceling. "You've got some of the hearing aid functions that I actually think is going to be very, very interesting to a lot of people, particularly in AirPods Pro," Bajarin adds.

He also highlights the improvements to the Apple Watch, explaining that the Series 10 has a larger display, arguing, "I would expect a much stronger than anticipated upgrade cycle for the category of wearables for Apple given what I saw product-wise today."

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl