It's become a tradition. Every September, Apple, now the world's second most valuable publicly traded company, usually presents its new product updates at a big event at its headquarters in California.
When the time comes again, on Wednesday evening Swedish time, it is expected to be with a foldable iPhone variant.
Competitors were ahead
Apple, which has historically been a leader in innovation, is hardly the first to do so. Among competitors like Samsung and Google, foldable versions have been around for a long time. There is also another aspect:
Foldable smartphones are a very small part of the mobile market. The challenge for Apple is whether it can expand this niche into a meaningful business area, said Dipanjan Chatterjee, an analyst at research and advisory firm Forrester.
John Ternus is also making his first major appearance as CEO of the company after replacing Tim Cook. For him, it is now not only about convincing consumers why they should buy a foldable phone but also why they should pay more for Apple's models. The predecessor, the iPhone 17, costs between $799 and $1,999 in the United States (almost equivalent to 20,000 kronor), writes the news agency AP.
A chip shortage
The expected price increases are related to the shortage of memory chips that has now affected many more companies than just Apple. Tuesday night's event is being closely watched by the market. So far this year, Apple's stock has climbed more than 16 percent. This is in line with the development of the Nasdaq Composite Index as a whole.
