Apple Inc unveiled two new iPhones on Tuesday with sharper and larger displays, moving into a market segment dominated by arch-rival Samsung Electronics.
The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus will support more than 200 telecoms carriers worldwide, including all three in China— a key growth market for the company.
For the first time in years, Apple’s iPhones aren’t the star of the show. Apple unveiled a smartwatch called the Apple Watch on Tuesday, a wearable device that marks the company’s first major entry in a new product category since the iPad’s debut in 2010.
Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimated on Tuesday that if Apple were to sell 30 million iWatches at $250 each, it would add about $7.5 billion to its revenue.
Rival electronics giants such as Sony Corp, Samsung, LG Electronics Inc and Qualcomm Inc have already launched smartwatches, albeit without much success.
The pressure is on for the world’s largest tech company to wow at its “special event” in Cupertino. The prospect of Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook unveiling the first device developed under his reign attracted a broader swathe of attendees than usual, with celebrities, fashion industry editors and even healthcare executives rounding out the mostly tech-industry crowd.
In a rare move for the company, Apple had planned on live-casting its event online, with a simultaneous translation in Chinese. But the live-stream went down for many users about a half-hour in, prompting many to take to Twitter to express their frustrations.
