Apple May Launch It First Major Product In Months

Consumer Electronics

Published: February 21, 2021 6:24 am

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) moved aggressively into the accessory business several years ago. Why give away components key to product use when it could charge for them and make tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars?

Airpods are the current best example of Apple’s move to sell products that allow people to make the best use of its flagships. Each set works with Apple’s major hardware products. The least expensive version is AirPods with a charging case, priced at $159. AirPods Pro, with additional features like “active noise cancellation” cost $249. AirPods Max, a full set of headphones, cost $549.

Bloomberg reports that Apple’s next big accessory product may be a “battery-boosting” accessory that attaches to an iPhone magnetically. It would use MagSafe, which is already available for wireless charging. CNN Business speculates that the product will be particularly useful because 5G superfast service, which the iPhone 12 runs on, drains batteries faster than the current 4G standard.

How much is a wireless magnet attached charger worth to Apple? Its accessories and home products business $15 billion this year.

Apple’s new battery pack will compete with products already available for sales. Among them, Xvida costs $49. The company claims the battery can charge an iPhone battery that is empty to 80% power within 35 minutes.

How long an iPhone battery holds a charge varies substantially. Unused, the battery may stay charged more than a day. Playing video can cut that time in half. Presumably, the success of a magnetic battery pack is based on the fact that not everyone has a place to easily charge their iPhones while they are away from a traditional or standard wireless charger.

Apple’s incentives for the creation and sales of accessories are substantial. Although the current iPhone 12 is considered in a super-cycle of unusually high sales that could last a year and a half or more, eventually sales will begin to flatten or dip, unless the iPhone 13 has unexpected features that make a leap with features that are unexpected.

A magnetic charger could be the first in a line of accessories meant to keep Apple’s revenue rising well into 2022.

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