Apple Inc invited the media to a “special event” in its hometown of Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, when the iPhone maker is expected to unveil the latest versions of its best-selling smartphones.
Apple’s cryptic invitation read: “Wish we could say more.” It came on a simple black-and-white background dominated by the company’s familiar corporate logo.
The launch date had been widely reported. Apple is expected to unveil models with larger 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens for its iPhones, a move thought to be driven in part by the success of larger devices sold by rival Samsung Electronics Co. Tech blog Re/code also reported that Apple might introduce its long-awaited smartwatch.
Apple uses its September events to showcase its most important products. The iPhone accounts for half of its business and is gaining more prominence as tablet sales falter.
Chief executive officer Tim Cook has promised new product categories for this year. Apple Internet services chief Eddy Cue has called Apple’s product pipeline the best he has seen in decades.
However, it remained unclear whether the company has another groundbreaking gadget up its sleeve.
Much of the speculation has centered on the use of sapphire display screens said to be more scratch-resistant. Separately, some suppliers have told reporters about screen production snags that have raised questions about availability at launch time.
Beyond the hardware, the next generation of gadgets is to incorporate new software features such as “HomeKit,” which is aimed at helping manage connected devices within the home, and “HealthKit,” a central repository of health data and services.
Apple has been discussing its HealthKit data service with health providers and apps developers, people familiar with the discussions say. They said HealthKit is set to become the linchpin in a broader push into mobile and digital healthcare, a fertile field that rivals Google Inc and Samsung are also exploring.
Apple shares have rallied in past months in anticipation of the event.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts