Low-cost iPhone heralds year of record launches

Apple is targeting a date on or near March 8 to unveil a new low-cost iPhone and an updated iPad, according to people with knowledge of the matter, kicking off a potentially record-setting year for product launches.

After coming off a holiday quarter that far exceeded Wall Street predictions, the March announcements - along with the usual flood of product news expected later in 2022 - suggest Apple will introduce its biggest crop of new devices ever in a single year.

Last Friday, Apple and Broadcom won a new trial on damages in an infringement case over California Institute of Technology patents on Wi-Fi technology after a US appeals court vacated a US$1.1 billion (HK$8.58 billion) verdict the school won in 2020.

The school had sued the two firms in May 2016, alleging that millions of iPhones, iPads and other devices using Broadcom chips infringed its data-transmission patents. And the federal jury had ordered Apple to pay Caltech US$837.8 million and Broadcom to pay an additional US$270.2 million. However, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the January 2020 award by the jury in Los Angeles was "legally unsupportable."

Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi (1810) is said to be launching cell phone production in Argentina at the end of March.

In the first half of 2021, Xiaomi's overseas market revenue reached 81 billion yuan (HK$99.17 billion), up 65.9 percent year on year, accounting for 49.2 percent of its total revenue.

According to Singapore-based analyst firm Canalys, Apple ranked first by global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2021, while Xiaomi was in third place.