Apple Inc. will unveil its highly anticipated iPhone 16 on Monday, but ahead of the event, the company is grappling with an unexpected setback.
The official Apple Store website, a critical platform for product launches, has gone offline.
Visitors to the site are greeted with a default message stating, “Be Right Back, We’re making updates to the Apple Store. Check Back Soon.” This disruption comes as the tech giant prepares for a major announcement that could significantly impact its future, checks by Naijaonpoint showed.
The event, scheduled to commence at 1 p.m. ET, is expected to showcase the iPhone 16, which is rumoured to feature incremental design updates but substantial internal enhancements.
Apple is betting that these improvements, particularly those related to generative artificial intelligence (AI), will rejuvenate consumer interest. The new iPhone is anticipated to be the first in the lineup specifically designed to leverage AI capabilities, enabling users to create text and images in ways previously unseen.
Apple’s marketing for the event has been cryptic, using the tagline “It’s Glow Time” without further elaboration. The company faces considerable pressure to deliver compelling AI features and other innovations that justify an upgrade, especially as competitors have already integrated similar technologies into their offerings.
Since the introduction of 5G with the iPhone 12 in 2020, Apple has struggled to present substantial reasons for customers to upgrade. Advances in phone camera technology have reached a point where further improvements are incremental rather than revolutionary. Additionally, screen resolutions have advanced beyond what the human eye can discern, diminishing the impact of hardware upgrades.
Consequently, iPhone sales, which represent approximately 50% of Apple’s revenue, have faced stagnation.
The company’s stock performance has mirrored this trend, with shares remaining relatively flat until the recent excitement surrounding the Apple Intelligence announcement. Since the event on June 10, Apple’s stock has risen by 14%, and it has gained nearly 18% since the beginning of the year.
The forthcoming iPhone 16 launch could be a turning point. According to Dan Ives, an analyst at investment firm Wedbush, approximately 300 million iPhones worldwide have not been upgraded in over four years.