Apple announced
Thursday its next product launch event will be March 21, one day before it
squares off with federal prosecutors over the government's demand for help
unlocking an encrypted iPhone.
Analysts and tech blogs are anticipating a 4-inch iPhone,
a smaller iPad pro and new bands for the Apple Watch. But the company provided
no details with its announcement of the event, in keeping with its usual effort
to build anticipation for its new products.
An invitation sent to reporters on Thursday said only
"Let us loop you in." The event will take place at Apple's 1 Infinite
Loop campus in Cupertino, California.
Apple's twice-yearly
product events are highly anticipated and the speculation that precedes them is
rampant. The backdrop to this year's event is a high-stakes legal dispute
between the FBI and the Obama administration, which has chafed at Apple's use
of encryption that make its customers' data unreadable to others.
Federal authorities want Apple's help in over-riding
security features on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino mass shooters,
so the FBI can attempt to examine the phone. Apple CEO Tim Cook contends the
government's demand would make other iPhones vulnerable. Both sides will make
their case to a federal magistrate in Riverside on March 22.
While Apple
executives say the company is continually working on increased security
measures, they haven't said whether they will announce any new encryption or
other safeguards at this month's event. What is more certain is a push by Apple
to boost sales with new versions of some popular products.
A 4-inch iPhone would reverse an industry trend, which
has turned out larger and larger screens. The most recent iPhone models have
come with 4.7- or 5.5-inch screens, which have sold extremely well,
particularly in Asian countries where larger phones made by Apple's rivals had
been big sellers in previous years.
But with sales now starting to plateau, analysts say
Apple could spark additional demand by offering an updated 4-inch iPhone
alongside the bigger models. The smaller phone is expected to sell at a lower
price and would appeal to those who never bought into the larger screens. In an
upgrade from older 4-inch iPhones, the new model is expected to have a faster
processor and features like Apple Pay,
which until now has been available only on larger iPhones.
Similarly, Apple has
been trying to boost sagging iPad sales by offering more sizes and models. The
new iPad tablet is expected to be a 9.7-inch version of the iPad Pro, which
Apple introduced last year. While the new model will be the same size as
Apple's regular iPads, it's also a step back from the first iPad Pro, which has
a larger, 12.9-inch screen and other features for professional users —
including a thin, detachable keyboard and stylus that are sold separately.
Tablet sales from all makers are expected to fall nearly
6 percent this year, according to analysts at International Data Corp., but
more people are buying new models with detachable keyboards. A longtime Apple
rival, Microsoft, has seen strong demand for its Surface Pro tablets with
keyboards.
