Invites for the next big Apple event have just landed in press mailboxes everywhere, confirming the rumored September 10 date. Invites for the event, which is set for Steve Jobs Theater on the company’s shiny new Cupertino campus, note that the event is “by innovation only.” It is a small theater, after all.
The invite features a swirling multi-color homage to the 80s Apple logo, albeit in a subtler pastel hue, which may point to colorful new hardware.
The centerpiece of the event will, of course, be the iPhone 11, which is rumored to arrive in three different flavors: The standard 11 (replacing the budget XR) and two 11 Pro models, set to replace the XS and XS Max, respectively. The scheme would mark a kind of new approach for the company, which has struggled to grapple with declining smartphone sales along with the rest of the industry.
Offering a lower-price-point flagship could help Apple appeal to consumers who have been put off by increasing prices on the high-end units, which have routinely topped out well over $1,000. It could also help Apple in increasingly important markets like China and India, which currently stand as numbers one and two in global smartphone sales, respectively.
A number of new features have been rumored for the new handsets, including a triple-camera array with an ultra-wide lens, a new A13 chip and wireless power sharing à la the Samsung Galaxy series, which would fit nicely alongside the latest AirPods. This being Apple’s last big hardware push before the holidays, there’s sure to be plenty more on the docket, as well.
I’ll be RSVPing as soon as I’m done with this post, so we’ll see you on the ground in Cupertino September 10 at 10AM sharp.
