Apple Inc announced larger watches and is expected to unveil three new iPhones at an event at its Silicon Valley headquarters on Wednesday, confirming expectations that the company is making only minor changes to its lineup based on last year’s iPhone X, Reuters reported.
The new phones will be named XS Max, XS and Xr, according to coding on the company's website spotted by tech news blog ATH here earlier on Wednesday.
Apple opened its event by saying its new Apple Watch Series 4 range will have edge-to-edge displays, like its latest phones, which are more than 30 percent bigger than displays on current models. The new series will be able to detect an irregular heartbeat and start an emergency call automatically if it detects a user falling down, potentially appealing to older customers.
Executives made the announcement at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple’s new circular headquarters in Cupertino, California, named after the company’s co-founder who wowed the world with the first iPhone in 2007.
The coding seen by ATH, which was later removed, did not give prices of the new phones, but Apple will likely blast further past the $1,000 mark set by the 10th anniversary iPhone X last year, when it announces new phones at its Silicon Valley headquarters.
Apple wants users to upgrade to newer, more expensive devices as a way to boost revenue as global demand for smartphones levels off. The strategy is working, helping Apple become the first publicly traded U.S. company to hit a market value of more than $1 trillion earlier this year.
“There’s no real game-changer on the table,” said Hal Eddins, chief economist at Apple shareholder Capital Investment Counsel. “It’s a matter of getting people to keep moving up.”
The company is also expected to unveil a new version of its wireless AirPods earbuds with wireless charging and a wireless mat that will be able to charge several devices at once.