Apple (AAPL) WWDC 2021: All Eyes On iOS Upgrades and Software Enhancements - Wedbush

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives shares his thoughts on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ahead of the “Apple Worldwide Developers Conference” that is due to start early next week.

The public is likely to hear more on iOS upgrades and software enhancements for the coming years, according to Ives, who rates AAPL as “Outperform” and a Street-high $185.00 per share price target.

“iOS 15 will be introduced next week and be very focused around new device privacy protections, various notifications/lock screen changes, and potentially a revamped iMessage feature set. This follows the iOS 14.5 release which has doubled down on with Facebook around the ability for users to block data tracking. We expect data privacy and security to be a main focus and theme of Cook's keynote as Apple solidifies its privacy policy with the iOS 15 unveil. We also expect to get OS announcements around Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV,” the analyst says.

Ives also expects “a few surprises” on the hardware front, including the release of a new MacBook Pro (14-inch and 16-inch display driven by the M1 chip).

“From a product intro timeline, we continue to believe next summer in 2022 Apple will unveil its long awaited Apple Glasses and will be a flagship new product introduction followed by the Apple Car (2024 target release date, expect more news/partnerships this summer on this front) with WWDC laying the groundwork for the software/services driven evolution in Cupertino. WWDC also comes at a time that Apple is under the spotlight with its golden jewel App Store from both the Epic Court Battle (decision likely in the next 6-8 weeks) and impending regulatory anti-trust swirls.”

As for the iPhone, the latest reads on the upcoming 13 model point to a continuation of the supercycle party. Ives still expects Apple to present iPhone 13 in the second part of September, or early October.

“Asia supply chain builds for iPhone 13 are currently in the ~90 million/100 million unit range compared to our initial iPhone 12 reads at 80 million units (pre-COVID) and represents a ~20% increase YoY out of the gates. While this number will clearly move around over the coming months, we believe this speaks to an increased confidence with Cook & Co. that this 5G driven product cycle will extend well into 2022 and should also benefit from a post vaccine consumer "reopening environment". From a spec perspective, we have increased confidence that iPhone 13 will have a 1 terabyte storage option which is double from the highest Pro storage capacity today (512GB) and will also include a number of enhancements with Lidar across all iPhone 13 models,” he concludes.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Apple click here. For more ratings news on Apple click here.

Shares of Apple closed at $125.06 yesterday.

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