Apple Inc. unveiled a new lineup of devices Wednesday and didn’t raise its US prices during one of the worst years for inflation in decades.
At its biggest product-launch event of the year, dubbed Far Out, the company introduced the iPhone 14, fresh AirPods Pro earbuds and an Apple Watch upgrade that included a first-ever Ultra model. The iPhone retains the general look of the older version while getting camera enhancements, a long-anticipated satellite-messaging feature and a new interface called the Dynamic Island on the higher-end models.
Apple stock gained in Wednesday's session after iPhone 14 event. Reacting to the Apple announcements and event, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, who has an Outperform rating and a $220 price target on the stock, said, "the Apple Watch and AirPods have transformed from a rounding error to a significant tangential product segment at Apple."
iPhone launch also povides a catalyst to Apple's stock price. Although Apple stock historically underperformed in September, showing a -0.7% averege monthly return since the launch of the original iPhone, in 2007. October offers a 4.3% average monthly return, higher than November-to-January period.