Apple is expected to unveil its latest device, the iPhone 6s, on September 9 in what should be a sigh of relief for investors, who have had a tough ride this week. Despite CEO Tim Cook’s assurance that China’s economic difficulties should not adversely impact the tech giant’s sales, the company’s stock is still trading below its $115 a share level just a few weeks ago, even after the robust market rally on Thursday, and far below its 52-week high of $134.54 a share.
蘋果公司于9月9日發(fā)布最新款手機(jī)iPhone 6s，在過(guò)去一周經(jīng)歷股價(jià)震蕩的投資者們理應(yīng)松一口氣。盡管首席執(zhí)行官蒂姆庫(kù)克信誓旦旦地聲稱，中國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)困境不會(huì)對(duì)這家科技巨頭的銷量造成負(fù)面影響，但就在幾周前，蘋果股價(jià)依然低于115美元，即便是在上周四股市強(qiáng)勁反彈之后依然如此，遠(yuǎn)低于52周以來(lái)的最高點(diǎn)134.54美元。
At least some of the market punishment seems unique to Apple. Investors are worried about the company for many reasons, including competition from low-cost Chinese smartphone makers and only modest traction for Apple Music and Apple Pay.
至少，來(lái)自市場(chǎng)的某些懲罰似乎就是專門沖著蘋果來(lái)的。投資者有許多理由為這家公司擔(dān)心，比如中國(guó)智能手機(jī)廠商的低價(jià)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，Apple Music和Apple Pay的吸引力十分有限，等等。
Which is why the new iPhone is crucial for Apple to restore investors’ confidence, and there’s a good chance it will for several reasons.
有鑒于此，投資者能否重拾信心，新款iPhone的表現(xiàn)至關(guān)重要�；谝韵聨讉�(gè)原因，它很可能會(huì)不負(fù)所望。
The phone will have a 12 megapixel camera, a big increase from previous versions; 4k video recording; faster processing speed; longer battery life, which many users consider to be an extremely important feature, according to multiple studies cited by Tech Insider; animated wallpaper like the Apple Watch and Android phones; the ability to detect when a Wi-Fi network is weak and automatically switch to cellular; and Wi-Fi calling over AT&T, previously limited to T-Mobile.
這款手機(jī)擁有遠(yuǎn)超前幾代產(chǎn)品的1200萬(wàn)像素?cái)z像頭、4K視頻錄制功能、更快的處理速度、更長(zhǎng)的電池續(xù)航時(shí)間（據(jù)Tech Insider引用的多項(xiàng)調(diào)研顯示，用戶認(rèn)為這一點(diǎn)極為重要）、類似Apple Watch和安卓手機(jī)的動(dòng)態(tài)墻紙。這款手機(jī)能識(shí)別較差的Wi-Fi網(wǎng)絡(luò)信號(hào)，并在這類環(huán)境中自動(dòng)切換至蜂窩網(wǎng)絡(luò)。這代手機(jī)的Wi-Fi通話功能還支持AT&T的網(wǎng)絡(luò)，此前僅限于T-Mobile。
But what’s expected to be the most important new feature of all: force touch, a technology that enables a device to distinguish between light and strong taps by a user and assign different functions to them, as it currently does on the Apple Watch and MacBooks. Applied to the iPhone, this could potentially be the killer feature that solidly differentiates the new iPhone from its predecessors by enhancing ease-of-use and utility.
不過(guò)該手機(jī)最重要的新特色還是壓感觸控（force touch），這項(xiàng)技術(shù)能讓設(shè)備識(shí)別用戶的輕度和重度觸屏，并為它們分配不同的功能。它目前已經(jīng)在Apple Watch和Macbook上實(shí)現(xiàn)了。一旦該技術(shù)應(yīng)用于新款iPhone上，就可能成為一項(xiàng)王牌特色，使其在操作簡(jiǎn)便性和功能實(shí)用性方面遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)甩開(kāi)前幾代產(chǎn)品。
An improvement to the user experience has always been at the heart of Apple’s success with new models and the force touch feature can provide this. Force touch is also new enough to encourage buyers to replace their existing phones, a major driver of sales in in China, one of Apple’s key markets. Force Touch should also help Apple maintain its position in the Asian market, where competitor Huawei is reportedly introducing a similar feature to its smartphones.
增強(qiáng)用戶體驗(yàn)一直是蘋果成功的不二法門，而新款機(jī)型和壓感觸控特色就能做到這一點(diǎn)。壓感觸控這項(xiàng)技術(shù)足夠新穎，能讓用戶有動(dòng)力替換現(xiàn)有機(jī)型，在蘋果的重要市場(chǎng)中國(guó)，這是提高銷量的一大因素。壓感觸控還能幫助蘋果維持其在亞洲市場(chǎng)的地位，據(jù)說(shuō)中國(guó)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手華為即將在智能手機(jī)上推出類似功能。
Another factor working in Apple’s favor is that while the company may have a hard time outdoing its blockbuster sales for the iPhone 6, new equipment installment plans from wireless carriers might encourage adoption for the new iPhone by consumers. An increasing percentage of AT&T and Verizon customers have been opting for these plans, which don’t tie them down to two-year contracts and allow them to upgrade early.
另一個(gè)因素也可能成為蘋果一大利好。誠(chéng)然，在iPhone 6大獲成功之后，蘋果公司的業(yè)績(jī)或許很難再上一層樓。不過(guò)，無(wú)線網(wǎng)絡(luò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商提供的新設(shè)備分期付款計(jì)劃也許會(huì)鼓勵(lì)用戶購(gòu)買新iPhone。越來(lái)越多的AT&T和威瑞森的顧客都開(kāi)始選擇這類計(jì)劃。這些計(jì)劃不會(huì)把他們束縛在兩年的合約中，可以讓他們盡早升級(jí)手機(jī)。
Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimates that about 14.9 million U.S. customers will be eligible for upgrades at the end of this year, compared to 5.3 million last fall when the iPhone 6 launched, according to The Wall Street Journal.
斯坦福伯恩斯坦公司分析師托尼薩克納西預(yù)計(jì)，大約有1490萬(wàn)美國(guó)用戶可以在今年年底前升級(jí)手機(jī)。而據(jù)《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》所述，去年秋天iPhone 6發(fā)布時(shí)，這一數(shù)值是530萬(wàn)。
Finally, even though Apple continues to trail Samsung in terms of worldwide smartphone sales, which fell in the second quarter of 2015, Apple’s market share rose to 14.6% from 12.2% a year ago, while Samsung’s declined to 21.9% from 26.2%, according to research firm Gartner. In China, too, Apple’s iPhone sales grew by 68% last quarter to 11.9 million units, indicating that the company is making inroads in that market despite its challenges. “It’s a big brand and people really associate that with their status and it’s kind of an aspirational brand so many of the consumers in China expect to own an iPhone at some point of time,” says Gartner research director Anshul Gupta.
最后，盡管蘋果在全球智能手機(jī)銷量上仍然不及三星，后者的銷量在2015年第二季度有所下滑。研究公司高德納的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，蘋果的市場(chǎng)占有率從去年的12.2%上升到14.6%，而三星從26.2%下降到21.5%。在中國(guó)，蘋果的iPhone銷量上季度大漲68%，達(dá)到1190萬(wàn)部。這充分證明，盡管中國(guó)市場(chǎng)充滿挑戰(zhàn)，蘋果依然能夠披荊斬棘，高歌猛進(jìn)。高德納研究總監(jiān)安舒爾古普塔表示：“蘋果是一個(gè)大品牌，人們真的很認(rèn)同它的地位。這也是一個(gè)讓許多人夢(mèng)寐以求的品牌，很多中國(guó)顧客都希望有朝一日能擁有一部iPhone。”
Some words of caution here. Apple’s new product launches are always surrounded by hype and predictions that don’t always come true. It remains to be seen how good the final product will be and, of course, how many people will buy it. In addition, analyst expectations could be inflated, as they were last quarter, setting Apple up to disappoint Wall Street even with a great smartphone.
不過(guò)這里也要提個(gè)醒。蘋果的新產(chǎn)品總是被吹得天花亂墜，但這些預(yù)言并不是總能實(shí)現(xiàn)。最終發(fā)布的產(chǎn)品究竟有多好，以及有多少人愿意買單，還需拭目以待。此外，就想上個(gè)季度一樣，分析師的預(yù)計(jì)也可能過(guò)高，華爾街最終可能以失望告終。
Nonetheless, given the importance of the new iPhone as investors add pressure on Apple’s stock, it’s a safe bet that the company is going take this particular launch very seriously.
盡管如此，由于投資者不斷對(duì)蘋果股價(jià)施壓，新款iPhone的重要性不言而喻，我們可以肯定蘋果很嚴(yán)肅地對(duì)待了這次特別的發(fā)布會(huì)。
