MAJOR CATEGORY GROWTH
Apple’s Wearables, Home, and Accessories
category made history in January when it
overtook the Mac category in revenue. Apple
generated $10 billion in sales from wearables,
which covers items including AirPods, Apple
Watch, HomePod, and Beats headphones.
By comparison, Apple’s Mac line generated
a respectable $7.2 billion in the same
sales period.
Speaking to Reuters, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said
that the company struggled to keep up with the
demand for AirPods and Apple Watch Series 3
in the quarter with supplies regularly running
low. Cook added that the company is “working
on both of those very hard,” and promised that
new products would be on their way soon. As
well as AirPods 3, which could launch in the
second half of 2020, we’ll also see a new Apple
Watch Series 6 with bigger battery life, sleep
tracking, improved workout information and
overhauled Health interfaces, whilst Beats
continues to launch popular audio products,
with its next release an upgrade to PowerBeats
4, expected imminently following a leak in
the iOS 13.3 beta.
One area where Apple is lagging behind,
however, is in smart home technology. The firm
has reportedly paid $200 million to acquire
Seattle-based artificial intelligence company
Xnor.ai, which focuses heavily on edge-based
AI. The firm specializes in hyper-efficient,
low-power AI that doesn’t require powerful
processing or a connection to the cloud, and
alongside the potential launch of SiriOS in
2020 , it could give Apple the fuel it needs to