Fast Forward: 5G iPhones Are Here — Now What?
Plus, Apple takes another stab at smart home with new HomePod Mini speaker, and other must-know announcements from the latest Apple event
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On Tuesday, Apple held its second fall event dedicated to unveiling the iPhone 12 lineup, plus a new HomePod Mini. Much of the hour-long event went as anticipated, with no surprise announcement or changes. The four models of iPhone 12, with varying sizes and prices, are all 5G-ready, while the new HomePod Mini represents Apple taking another stab at the smart home space. For details on the new Apple products, 9to5Mac has a good recap. As usual, we will be focusing on the aspects that may lead to changes in media behavior and impact marketing.
5G is going mainstream, but brand applications remain amorphous
We’ve been talking about 5G networks and its marketing implications for a couple of years now as wireless carriers around the world gradually built the infrastructure to make 5G connectivity a reality in certain markets. While there have been quite a few 5G-compatible Android phones that hit the market, the new generation of 5G-ready iPhones, along with Apple’s marketing efforts for them, will no doubt push 5G into mainstream consciousness, transforming it from a cool concept to a mass-market product.
Last week, a report from Counterpoint Research found that 5G smartphone sales accounted for 14% of total U.S. sales in August, up from just 3% in January 2020. Given the iPhone accounted for about 46% of all smartphone sales in the U.S. in the first half of 2020, it stands to reason that 5G-ready phones will be taking up at least 50% of all new phones sold in the U.S. during and after this holiday season. Of course, it will take longer for the majority of smartphone users to upgrade, but it is clear that the 5G floodgate has officially opened.
Now, here is the awkward part — 5G is a transformative technology, just not necessarily on mobile. Its high network capacity and low latency will be perfect for powering the future of connected cars, IoT devices, and smart cities, but it is less of a breakthrough in terms of what it brings to the mobile experience. Sure, it is decidedly faster — if you’re in one of the few city blocks that happen to have a millimeter-wave 5G base station installed, or what Apple repeatedly referred to as “ideal conditions” — but the mobile experience is not exactly being held back by network speed for most users on 4G LTE and Wi-Fi today. Higher speed alone won’t fundamentally change how people use their smartphones.
Given the spotty rollout of 5G networks so far, most iPhone 12 users won’t even get to experience the “super-fast” speed that Apple touted out during this keynote for at least a year, which would likely lead to some frustration and confusion over 5G’s benefits. Unlike the other technologies that Apple packs into their products, the infrastructure development of 5G is entirely beyond Apple’s control. Even though the company says it is working with the carriers to help them improve the 5G network quality, there is only so much Apple can do as a device maker.
Still, there are some improvements that 5G will bring to smartphones. Beyond some vague talks of “enabling breakthrough innovations”, Apple cited three scenarios during its keynote to show off 5G’s benefits: an NFL super-stadium experience app which utilizes 5G to allow viewers to stream the games from various camera angles; a demo of the upcoming League of Legends: Wild Rift, which utilizes 5G’s low latency to deliver “console-quality” gaming experience on mobile; and a medical imaging app that makes good use of 5G’s high speed to handle large medical scan files. All of these are cool enhancements in mobile streaming, cloud gaming, and other niche use cases, but again, none of them are truly transformative, nor do they have much impact on consumer behavior.
That being said, there is a long-term view that accounts for the amorphous potential of 5G on mobile. Just like the upgrade from 3G networks to 4G LTE triggered a decade-long mobile video evolution that, combined with the constant improvements on the smartphone camera, eventually led to TikTok and shoppable live video today, it is possible that 5G will allow for new formats that require high network speed and capacity to emerge over the next five to ten years. Judging by the existing trends, it will likely be along the lines of cloud-based AR experiences shared by large groups, or something close to a metaverse experience. Even though those experiences will eventually move to dedicated headsets and AR glasses, there is a good chance that they will start on mobile in the nascent stages.
Therefore, for brand marketers looking to future-proof their practices, it is time to upgrade your brand assets for the 5G era. This not only means creating and deploying ultra-HD images and videos that will best present your brand visually, but also 3D brand assets that would help ensure a smooth transition into mobile AR environments and, in the long run, a post-mobile era supercharged by 5G. Beyond new formats of brand assets, 5G will also unlock new sources of consumer data via connected IoT and ambient computing devices for marketers to potentially leverage in targeting and personalization. Realistically, however, that will take a few more years of development to emerge as a viable data source, not to mention the heavy restrictions that developing privacy regulations may put in first.
iPhone Pro cameras with LiDAR Scanner for better creativity and AR
As with previous years, Apple mainly differentiated its flagship Pro line from regular iPhone 12 models with better cameras. The iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max will feature a new LiDAR scanner, which uses lasers to judge distances and depth of the environment. This technology is also used in some self-driving cars, and its addition to iPhones can help map out the surroundings more accurately to improve photography and mobile AR experiences.
For app developers, this would enable things like object and room scanning, which could lead to improvements in things like visual search, home design tools, or product AR previews. Snapchat, for example, is among the first to put the new technology to use in its iOS app for a LiDAR-powered Lens, where the coverage and movement of virtual objects reflect and interact with the depth of the room.
In addition, the iPhone 12 Pro models are the first mobile phone to support recording and editing videos in Dolby Vision with HDR format, enabled by their industry-leading camera system and graphic chip. Apple showcased a short film by Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who noted that creating videos in this format would normally involve renting expensive equipment. This observation is in line with the way that improvement in mobile devices have democratized creativity and productivity tools that previously had a higher entry barrier.
By allowing billions of smartphone users to access these professional-grade tools to create and share content is how we ended up in this age of meme culture and influencer economy. As this pandemic forced professional content creators to improvise and adopt the homemade aesthetic of user-generated content, the line between professional and amateur content will continue to blur as more professional-grade production tools become available to everyday users. For brands, this may be a sign that your creative assets could use a refresh to catch up with the changing styles and shifting sources of digital content.
HomePod Mini extends Apple’s ecosystem play at home
Although Tuesday’s event ended up being very iPhone-centric, Apple actually kicked off the keynote with an announcement of HomePod Mini, a new addition to its HomePod product line. With a cute spherical design that recalls the new Echo speakers Amazon unveiled last month, the HomePod Mini represents Apple taking yet another stab at the smart home market in a year where the home economy grew exponentially thanks to the pandemic. HomePod Mini is meant to double as a smart home hub, letting users easily access and control HomeKit accessories remotely. It is automatically added to the Home app during setup, allowing users to instantly control HomeKit devices via voice.
A big selling point for the original HomePod was its superior sound quality, which Apple heavily emphasized in its marketing, partly to divert focus from its lack of third-party voice applications. This time around, while the HomePod Mini still delivers good audio quality, its diminutive size restricted its aural capabilities, and Siri still has not, and likely won’t be, opened up to third-party developers the same way that Alexa and Google Assistant have done. So instead, Apple smartly leaned into its biggest strength to stake its claim at home: its extensive ecosystem of mobile and wearable devices and the seamless cross-device interactions it enables.
The value proposition Apple is making here is clear: Apple households are better off with a HomePod Mini that uses Siri to link up all Apple devices. This is reflected in the Hand-Off feature that allows iPhones to effortlessly transfer audio playback to a nearby HomePod Mini, which uses Apple’s Ultra Wideband technology to determine where the iPhones are in the room. It is also demonstrated in the new Intercom feature that allows HomePod Mini to broadcast audio messages to all household members on their personal devices including Apple Watch and AirPods. Plus, Siri can now reply to inquiries with personalized answers by pulling information from your phone’s calendar and reminder apps.
An interesting side note here is that the low-power Thread networking technology on HomePod Mini could enable some interesting cross-ecosystem play with Alexa and Google Assistant devices. Alas, Apple has confirmed its Thread support on HomePod Mini is limited to HomeKit devices, so the technology can’t yet be leveraged cross-platform. Perhaps that could change in the future once Apple realizes the need for interoperability between smart home devices, but don’t count on Apple ceding control over its walled garden ecosystem.
This ecosystem home play is not a bad strategy per se, and with some holiday discounts, Apple could sell a healthy number of HomePod Mini speakers. Still, Apple lags far behind Amazon and Google in the smart speaker market, and there is a lot of ground to cover if Apple wants to catch up with the two competitors in the race to control the interface of home. Without a major strategy shift, Apple’s presence at home is still heavily reliant on its existing mobile and wearable devices, and Siri still lacks in-brand opportunities as long as it stays closed to third party developers.
This means for brands, the best way to leverage Siri to reach Apple users today remains integrating their iOS apps into Apple’s voice ecosystem via Siri Intents, Shortcuts, and Suggestions through SiriKit, allowing Siri to intelligently surface relevant information and functions to users. In the keynote, Apple demonstrated a scenario in which an inquiry about the business hours of a local Target store on HomePod Mini automatically translated into a suggested navigation route to the said Target store via CarPlay. Siri may be rather brand-hostile compared to Alexa and Google Assistant, but it is not wise to completely ignore it either.
Want to Learn More?
In a year that has been as unpleasantly unpredictable as 2020, it is almost comforting to have the annual update of the iPhone arriving right as the holiday shopping season kicks off. If you are keen to learn more about Apple’s latest announcements and what they mean for your brand, or just want to chat about developing a strategy on 5G and smart home, the Lab is here to help. You can start a conservation by reaching out to Josh Mallalieu (josh@ipglab.com).
