Is Apple’s 2019 satisfactory?

Editor’s note: This article comes from WeChat public account “ 雷 科技 ” (ID : Leitech), author Lei Technology.

Apple, which has always attracted the most attention, has done a lot in the past 2019 and has undergone changes.

Apple is close to the people, and it ’s really a lot, but Apple also faces the troubles that belong to this technology giant. Where will the future go under internal and external problems? It is a problem that almost everyone cares about. Next, please review with us Apple’s 2019.

The market value will hit another trillion, and the service business will shine.

According to the official data disclosed by Apple, during fiscal year 2019, Q1 revenue was US $ 84.3 billion and net profit was US $ 19.965 billion; Q2 revenue was US $ 68 billion and net profit was US $ 11.6 billion; Q3 revenue was US $ 53.809 billion and net profit was US $ 10.04 billion ; Q4 revenue was US $ 64.04 billion and net profit was US $ 13.686 billion.

In general, Apple’s revenue declined in the first two quarters, that is, October 2018 to March 2019, but in the second two quarters, from April to 9 in 2019 There was a slight increase between months. Apple’s recovery is also reflected in the stock price: after a low of $ 740 billion at the end of 2018, it has now reached a record high of $ 1.3 trillion.

But the new main reason for pushing Apple’s stock price forward is not the iPhone, but the service business that has been widely regarded as a tributary of the mobile phone business in the past few years. Gao Ge’s aggressive Apple services business brought a series of subscription services such as Apple News +, Apple Card, Apple Arcade, Apple TV + in 2019, from one-time payment to continuous income.

Apple’s emphasis on the service business can be seen from the development conference: We are still guessing how AirPods 2, iPad mini5, and iPad Air3 will debut at the spring conference. Apple updated the product directly on the official website. Information, and the press conference everyone pays attention to becomes the home of the service.

Lei Technology has experienced the Apple Arcade. Apple offers subscriptions for up to $ 5 per month (about 35 yuan), and users can play more than 100 games of good quality without additional charges. Arcade provides game developers with new ways to pay and monetize their games, letting us see the potential of mobile gaming.

It is a pity that the subscription service products that have become Apple ’s new main force have not yet officially entered China, and most Chinese Apple users cannot witness this.A change. However, things are always developing in a good place. The content in the App Store has become more grounded, and it has started to support Lingnan Tong and Shenzhen Tong credit cards. More Apple services may not be far away.

New business is only rumored so far

Compared to the vigorous development of subscription services, the new business related to the new era of Apple hardware products is still in the mist. The revolution in personal computers and smartphones has already been completed. In addition to continuing the road set in the past, Apple also needs to find new areas and occupy the market high as soon as possible. The roads Apple has chosen for itself are AR and smart cars.

AR (Augmented Reality Display) can be regarded as the re-evolution of portable smart devices headed by smartphones. It has both the characteristics of easy interaction and high information content, and the experience is more insensitive without the need to face the screen. Apple CEO Tim Cook also said in multiple interviews in 2019 that Apple believes that AR is an important development direction, but so far no related products have been launched.

Apple's 2019:

In order to lay out the AR ecosystem in advance, Apple launched the AR development tool ARKit as early as 2018, and opened the corresponding capabilities on iOS devices. After the release of products such as iPhone 11 and Mac Pro, when using iOS devices to access the corresponding page of Apple’s official website, you can observe a 1: 1 product model under AR, which is more convincing than static pictures.

Besides that, Apple is almost secretive about AR products, but we can get some information from the broke population. According to sources such as Guo Mingzhang and Forbes, Apple is expected to release the first AR glasses in 2020 in the form of new iPhone peripherals. In 2021, there will be AR headsets that can operate independently.

Apple’s smart car plan is not very clear. The news of setting up a research and development team came a few years ago, but so far no more progress. In the same period, Google’s Waymo has been on the road in Phoenix for a long time, and Tesla has gradually released self-driving capabilities to users.

Apple's 2019:

More photos in 2019The related news is a personnel change: After building cars to focus on autonomous driving, Apple withdrew about 200 people from the project, accounting for nearly 8% of the total number of participants. Apple also confirmed in June that it had acquired Drive.ai, a startup that develops autonomous driving technology.

Apple has responded: This will be by far the most ambitious machine learning project. However, the specific time point of the project’s implementation is still unknown: autonomous driving has extremely high requirements in multiple directions such as safety, stability, and accuracy. Giants such as Tesla and Waymo have also postponed the commercialization of high-level autonomous driving technology.

Many new Macs make fun of it, AirPods are very popular

In an impolite tone, except for industrial design, Mac products in 2019 are almost exactly the same as those of ten years ago, and the same progress as PCs with a water bottleneck is limited. With the same Intel architecture, the same macOS (even with stability issues), the relatively prominent application ecology of professional applications such as film and television also has a lot of room for improvement.

But we should also call a “wow” for the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR monitors that refresh the high-end product line: the former potato eraser style breaks through the traditional computer body concept and also meets the heat dissipation function requirements; The latter’s ultra-high specifications refreshed the display online. Of course, their tens of thousands of pricing are quite “wow”.

Apple's 2019:

As for the MacBook, which is closer to the average consumer, the improvement is much more dull. The 13-inch MacBook Pro replaced the MacBook, and the 16-inch version replaced the previous 15-inch version with a higher screen ratio. Fortunately, Apple is no longer attached to the butterfly keyboard with a high failure rate, and has returned to the scissors keyboard from the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

HomePod is finally available in China, but the gap between high pricing and fewer features has made Chinese consumers less likely to buy it. Apple Watch Series 5 continues to deepen its health and ease of use. The screen can be displayed at any time, and the automation of the compass and emergency calls makes it more free from the scene of iPhone use.

The long-selling product line AirPods has brought surprises. At the beginning of the year, AirPods 2 can be awakened at any time. At the end of the year, AirPods Pro refreshed the balance of noise reduction, Siri and sensorless music experience at any time. It became a rare and expensive price. Out of stockNew Apple. AirPods and Apple Watch, which continued to climb and even break through the peak of the iPod, brought new stories about wearables to Apple.

Apple's 2019:

For the past 20 years, John Ive, the “voice voice” who has been designing and controlling the soul of contemporary Apple products, has injected his soul and announced his departure from Apple in 2019. He said that he will also provide services to Apple in the future. But anyway, the apple that loves to use and is good at using solid metal in industrial design may change due to his departure.

iPhone 11 finds a way to respond

It’s finally Apple’s most important product line, the iPhone, which everyone knows. After learning the lessons from the iPhone XR, upgrading to the dual-camera iPhone 11 looks fragrant, and few people will reject the new iPhone, which is not too expensive and has complete hardware performance. This year’s shipping performance is also likely to be guaranteed.

The iPhone 11 Pro, which is still a “ten thousand yuan mobile phone”, seems to lack innovation. If you don’t look at the Apple A13, which still leads the mobile phone processor, the controversial three-shot and zoom functions, it will be difficult to find more evolution. Place. From the back cover that has been polished through multiple processes, combining frosted and shiny texture, the iPhone chooses to give way to functionality.

Apple's 2019:

At the software level, iOS 13 introduces a dark mode, which saves power and protects your eyes; 3D Touch is replaced by a quick operation after a long press; while the photo album app is being revised, photo and video editing functions are also enhanced; Apple continues to improve The map application also opens the ability to log in with an Apple account to third-party applications.

It is reasonable to say that further enhanced iOS can be loved by more people. However, in fact, endless bugs have emerged, making the discussion of whether the update is available or not spread. Apple has postponed the feature update for one year to ease the pressure on stability. From the current performance, it seems that it has to start from the software development managementTo solve the problem logically, no one wants to see another Windows 10.

Software and hardware weakness are also directly reflected in sales: even the hottest new models, the iPhone 11 has not been able to sell iPhone XR in the third quarter, the price is not enough is the last word. However, this does not mean that the multi-camera strategy is a failure. In the same period, the sales volume of the three iPhone 11 models actually increased a lot compared with last year, directly bringing Apple’s stock price back to trillions of dollars.

Apple's 2019:

Apple did not bring 5G mobile phones in 2019, which is considered a pity by many people, but in the past 3G and 4G era, Apple is not the first batch of mobile phone manufacturers to launch. And Apple is not without action this year, first reached a patent settlement with Qualcomm, and then acquired the Intel baseband team for 5G baseband shipment bounce.

Combined with the rumors that Apple will purchase Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 baseband and launch mobile phones for different networks in different regions, the 5G iPhone in 2020 should not run.

Apple is moving to the next future

On the surface, this year is just a calm year for Apple. There are no revolutionary new products released, and the new iPhones and Macs are still what we are familiar with. If it is related to product line, pricing and personnel adjustments, it can be found that this year is also a turbulent year for Apple, just like a lion waiting to catch prey, quietly preparing for an outbreak.

On the one hand, the iPhone 11 series products have stopped the trend of sales and share decline, and they are still on the throne of the world’s most popular flagship machine; on the other hand, the rapid deployment of service business, wearables led by Apple Watch and AirPods The device also provides more stable income and investment market conditions, and Apple’s stock price will not deceive.

Apple's 2019:

So Apple is actually ending the chaos in the iPhone XS period, and once again stands firm, it is preparing to move to the next new field. Is it a new mobile device revolution starting from AR, or Siri artificial intelligence that can greatly improve after waking up at any time, or an unknown new application brought by autonomous vehicles and 5G?use? At this point everything is still uncertain.