Market jitters predominated Wednesday’s action. while most investing media focused on the Apple (AAPL) new product presentation, which revealed little that we already presumed forthcoming, a bit of evolutionary improvement, reports Gene Inger. Would I buy the new model?

There was no inclusion of 5G support for the new iPhones. as expected given Intel having insufficient lead-time ahead of production.

Reuters: Wall Street gains Thursday with Apple, easing China trade concerns. S&P 500 (SPX) close: 2904. +0.53%

  

In fact, Apple stock was a buy the rumor/sell the news-type situation, with shares on the defensive both before and after the show.

In terms of product it’s very much a focus on refinement rather than any new devices, though they tried to focus on the 10XR as a lower-priced entry level unit. (It is slightly less sophisticated though with the same processor.) Hard to believe that the entry level phone is over $700. But that’s Apple now.

As to the XS Max, the 6.5 largest model will start at $1099.    

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I noted that they did not reduce the price of the iPhone X (discontinued as long ago suspected, to be replaced by the Xs). So that should help retain a bit of value for users of the nearly-identical X model.

Lots of discussion about better software and pictures, but that really didn’t impress me much. For that matter, I was hoping for a stronger amperage basic charger, dual SIM trays (that exists in the Chinese model only). And eSIM (that we got in this version, by software update later this year).

Apple (finally) introduced an AppleCare + theft and loss plan (previously I criticized their lack of the latter parts). However, Apple priced it at $15/month. That’s about 50% higher than either AT&T (T) or Verizon (VZ) for similar coverage. 

Would I get the new model? Perhaps the X s Max, as it’s bigger for fingers that need it and not terribly wide due to the aspect ratio of the X series.

It’s still notable Apple did not emphasize cellular connections (no 5G) and there was no new iPad Pro, though we believe that’s forthcoming. All in all, not a whole lot new.

But the silent product growth is there. including Apple TV 4k which quietly is making inroads with various streaming services.   

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