The actor, who stars as Ken in the movie, had Gerwig in the throes of laughter on set while filming the “I’m Just Ken” musical sequence, as seen in new behind-the-scenes footage that was released on Monday.
The video showcases the pair cracking up while watching a playback of Gosling singing about living a life of “blond fragility,” and later bending over in laughter after the cast of Kens dance around the set during the infamous “Beach off.”
In another clip, Gerwig hilariously throws her hands to her mouth after watching Gosling furiously rip off his coat, and even Simu Liu, who also plays Ken, is seen losing it alongside Gosling during the 1950’s dance sequence.
And as if Gosling’s commitment to nailing this role wasn’t clear enough, the triple-threat’s talent is reinforced when he’s seen fully nailing his dance moves in bonus footage of him performing parts of the musical number during various rehearsals.
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash is also seen recording his guitar part for the song, and producers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt are showcased working their magic in the studio as the cast of Kens sing with passion while recording their backup vocals.
“Barbie” premiered in theaters last month and has seen massive box office success. The movie has grossed over $1 billion globally, making Gerwig the first solo female director with a billion-dollar movie.
The “I’m Just Ken” sequence in the film illustrates Ken’s frustration with the dynamic between himself and Margot Robbie’s Barbie. The pair are best friends, but Ken’s feelings for Barbie go beyond that.
“I’m just Ken. Where I see love she sees a friend,” he sings. “What will it take for her to see the man behind the tan, and fight for me?”
It’s clear though that Gosling is so much more than just Ken, and he’s Kenough.
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Tuesday as investors monitored signs of China’s darkening economic backdrop and gauged if a robust U.S. consumer could spell more Federal Reserve rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA fell about 360 points, or 1%, to about 34,946, according to preliminary FactSet data. The S&P 500 index SPX dropped 1.2% to about 4,437, its lowest close since mid-July, according to FactSet. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP ended 1.1% lower. Chinese retail sales and industrial production in the world’s second biggest economy grew less than expected in July. Its growing property woes also contributed…
The thing that will make companies lower prices is if consumers stop complaining about paying more for the things they need and want, and actually start refusing to buy them.
As the U.S. corporate earnings-reporting season progresses, with earnings from major retailers Walmart Inc. WMT, +0.59%,
Target Corp. TGT, +0.10%
and Home Depot Inc. HD, +0.52%
on tap next week, investors can get a ground-floor view of how consumer demand may have been hurt, or not, by higher prices, and what the companies plan to do, or not do, about it.
This dynamic of how consumers adjust their spending habits when prices change is referred to by economists as the price elasticity of demand.
“ For companies to cut prices, ‘you have to have the consumer go on strike, and they’re not there yet.’”
— Jamie Cox, Harris Financial Group
Those who trust companies will choose to ratchet down prices on their own, or at least not raise them because the rise in input costs has been slowing, haven’t been listening to what the many companies have told analysts on their post-earnings-report conference calls.
Kraft Heinz Co. KHC, +0.47%
acknowledged after its second-quarter report that its relatively higher prices have hurt demand, but not by enough for the food and condiments company to consider cutting prices.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL, +0.81%
said it will continue to raise prices, even as inflation slows and selling volume declines, as the consumer-products company continues to be laser focused on boosting margins and profits.
And while PepsiCo Inc. PEP, +0.16%
was worried that elasticities would increase, given how its lower-income customers were being particularly pressured by inflation, the beverage and snack giant reported strong results as it witnessed “better elasticities” in most of the markets in which it operated.
“Obviously, there is still carryover pricing, and I don’t think we’ll do anything different than our normal cycles on pricing in the balance of the year,” PepsiCo Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston told analysts, according to an AlphaSense transcript.
Basically, as MarketWatch has reported, so-called greedflation is alive and well.
Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, said as long as the job market stays strong, as it is now, corporate greed will continue to pay off.
“If something is more expensive, and you have a job, you’ll complain about it, but you won’t substitute it for something cheaper,” Cox said. For companies to cut prices, “you have to have the consumer go on strike, and they’re not there yet,” Cox added.
“ ‘At some point, people are going to say, “All right — enough.” ’ ”
— Paul Nolte, Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management
The reason elasticity is so important in the current environment is that, as long as consumers continue to pay the higher prices companies are charging, inflation will remain stubbornly high, making it, in turn, more likely that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates or, at the very least, not lower them.
But the longer interest rates stay high enough to crimp economic growth, the more likely the stock market will reverse lower as recession fears rise.
“At some point, people are going to say, ‘All right — enough,’ ” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth manager and market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management. “But we just haven’t seen that yet.”
What is elasticity?
Economists use the term “price elasticity of demand” to refer to the way in which consumers adjust their spending habits when prices change.
“Elasticity tries to measure how much more producers will want to produce if prices rise, and how much more consumers will want to buy if prices fall,” explained Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica.
Elasticity often depends on the type of product a company sells.
For example, consumer-discretionary-goods companies that sell products and services that people want will often experience greater price elasticity than consumer-staples companies that sell things that people need, such as groceries and prescription drugs.
But even for needs, consumers often still have a choice, as less expensive generic, or private-label, alternatives may be available.
Andre Schulten, chief financial officer of consumer-staples maker Procter & Gamble Co. PG, +0.58%,
which recently beat earnings expectations as it continued to raise prices, telling analysts that, while there was “some trading into private label,” the overall market share of private-label products was unchanged for the year.
As Harris Financial’s Cox said, consumers may be complaining about higher prices, but they aren’t yet desperate enough to stop buying.
The Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book economic survey stated that business contacts in some districts had observed a “reluctance” to raise prices as consumers appeared to have grown more sensitive to prices, but other districts reported “solid demand” allowed companies to maintain prices and profitability.
That’s likely why companies and analysts have become less concerned about price elasticity. Based on a FactSet analysis, mentions of the word “elasticity” in press releases and conference calls of S&P 500 companies SPX
increased as inflation and interest rates started surging in early 2022 through the end of the year.
Mentions of the word elasticity in earnings press releases and conference-call transcripts of S&P 500 companies.
FactSet
As the chart shows, “elasticity” popped up in more than 55% of earnings releases and conference calls in mid-2022, but with the second-quarter 2023 earnings-reporting season more than half over, mentions had dropped to about 20%.
Perhaps that will pick up, as retailers, especially those catering to lower-income customers — recall the PepsiCo comment — assess the demand impact of continued price increases.
Meanwhile, the branded-foods company Conagra Brands Inc. CAG, +0.71%,
whose wide-ranging food brands including Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Hunt’s, Orville Redenbacher’s and Slim Jim, were starting to see the emergence of a different dynamic.
Chief Executive Sean Connolly said consumers were shifting behavior in some categories as prices remained high. Rather than trade down to lower-priced alternatives, he noticed some consumers buying fewer items overall, “more of a hunkering down than a trading down.”
That’s exactly the kind of consumer behavior that is needed, if companies are to stop feeding into the greedflation phenomenon and to start pulling back on prices.
Food prices rose 0.2% on the month in July after remaining unchanged in June, and they rose 4.9% on the year, while the cost of food at home rose 3.6% on the year, government data released Thursday showed. Prices of fresh fruits and vegetables rose just 1.2% year over year.
However, there were some big — even alarming — outliers: Frozen fruit and vegetable prices increased by 11.8% in July over last year, frozen vegetable prices rose 17.1% and frozen noncarbonated juice and drink prices rose 16.3%.
Those price rises are at odds with overall inflation figures. U.S. consumer prices rose to 3.2% in July from 3% in the prior month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said this week. It was the first increase in 13 months.
Why have the prices of frozen fruits and vegetables shot up over the past 12 months, while the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables has increased so little?
Climate change and extreme weather conditions — from heavy rainfall to drought, particularly in California — have led to big problems for farmers. This has been compounded by issues related to the war in Ukraine and an ongoing increase in the cost of labor, experts said.
As a result, a large proportion of the fruits and vegetables grown were destined to be sold as fresh produce — which led to a shortage of ingredients for frozen goods, said Brad Rubin, sector manager at Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute. “Because of the late crop, lots of produce is being pushed to the fresh market to keep up with demand,” he said.
California weather
California has experienced some drastic weather conditions over the last 12 months. Some 78 trillion gallons of water fell in California during winter 2022 and early spring 2023, according to data from the National Weather Service, delaying planting. And all that snow and rain was followed by a months-long drought in the region.
What happens in California is felt by consumers across the country.
“California produces nearly half of U.S.-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables,” according to estimates from the Sciences College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. “California is the only state in the U.S. to export the following commodities: almonds, artichokes, dates, dried plums, figs, garlic, kiwifruit, olives, pistachios, raisins and walnuts,” it says.
The subsequent price rises hit ingredients like strawberries and raspberries especially hard, Rubin added. Inventories of frozen berries are “near five-year lows” after winter storms in Watsonville flooded agricultural fields, damaging and delaying the strawberry crop. Most of the strawberries in the U.S. are grown in California.
Labor costs
Frozen fruits and vegetables have a longer supply chain than fresh produce, which can make them more vulnerable to disruptions in inventory, experts say. Rising energy prices are also pushing up the cost of cold storage.
In addition to those issues, U.S. farmers are dealing with increased labor costs and fewer migrant workers, partly due to changes in government policies and the closure of borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a February 2023 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
“Immigration has traditionally provided an important contribution to the U.S. labor force,” the report said. “The flow of immigrants into the United States began to slow in 2017 due to various government policies, then declined further due to border closures in 2020-21 associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This decline in immigration has had a notable effect on the share of immigrants in the U.S. labor force.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also continues to affect agricultural production in the U.S., said Curt Covington, senior director of institutional business at AgAmerica Lending, a financial-services company providing agricultural loans. Because the war disrupted supplies of commodities like wheat and corn — also pushing up prices for those goods — farmers have been prioritizing planting those crops over vegetables.
“These escalating frozen-vegetable prices present a challenge for farmers as they grapple with increased production costs and labor pressures,” and that presents a long-term challenge for farmers, “potentially impacting their profitability,” Covington said.
All of these factors — from international supply chains to extreme weather conditions — will have an effect on the cost of frozen goods in U.S. supermarkets. Ultimately, experts said, consumers will end up paying the price.
US wholesale inflation rose more than expected in July, reversing a yearlong cooling trend, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The Producer Price Index, which tracks the average change in prices that businesses pay to suppliers, rose 0.8% annually. That’s above June’s upwardly revised increase of 0.2% and higher than expectations for a 0.7% gain, according to consensus estimates on Refinitiv.
Producer price hikes increased 0.3% from June to July, the highest monthly increase since January.
PPI is a closely watched inflation gauge since it captures average price shifts before they reach consumers, and is a proxy for potential price changes in stores.
Services and demand for services were the primary culprits behind the lift higher for producer prices, said Kurt Rankin, senior economist for PNC Financial Services. Services prices rose 0.5% from June, the highest monthly increase since March 2022 for the category, BLS data shows.
“The inflation story now, be it for producers or consumers, is demand,” he told CNN. “Mainly that’s consumers still spending money on services.”
The food index, which had declined for three straight months, rose 0.5% in July, suggesting a 6.3% annualized pace of inflation, he said.
“Consumers continue to go out and spend money,” Rankin said. “And as long as consumers are spending money, that’s going to create demand from producers, so that’s going to drive up their costs for their raw materials, for their transportation needs, etc.”
“And they’re going to pass those prices on to consumers,” he added.
That’s an unpleasant cycle.
“The numbers over the past six months have been much more encouraging, but it’s a reminder that the Federal Reserve has an eye toward the possibility of inflation flaring up again,” he said.
Similar base effects played their role in the headline PPI increase as well, noted Rankin.
The tick upward to 0.8% doesn’t tell the whole story, because the index decreased in five of the previous seven months. Annualizing the 0.3% monthly gain, however, would put the PPI rate at about 3.6% and core at 3.8%, he said.
“So the July number does suggest that there’s still some producer cost pressures,” he said.
When stripping out the more volatile categories of food and energy, core PPI rose 2.4% annually in July. That’s in line with what was seen in June but a tick above economists’ expectations for a slight cooling.
On a month-to-month basis, core PPI increased 0.3%, also the highest monthly gain since January.
“The underlying trends show that PPI inflation is reverting to its pre-pandemic run rate, though progress is likely to be slower in [the second half of 2023] than [the first half],” Oxford Economics economists Matthew Martin and Oren Klachkin wrote Friday in a note. “While these data will comfort Fed officials, policymakers will likely maintain a hawkish tone and keep a close eye on whether last month’s jump in services prices persists in the months ahead.”
US stock futures tumbled after the report was released, as the hotter-than-expected data fueled concerns that the Fed could continue to hike rates in order to rein in inflation. The Dow has since pared its losses and is back in the green.
One month does not make a trend, and this result alone should not trigger a September increase from the Fed, but it certainly could heighten concerns, Rankin said.
“One spark could reignite this,” he said. “We’re seeing energy prices, oil prices, rising over the past few weeks. Any flareup in oil prices goes straight through to not only manufacturing costs, but transportation of goods to market, even transportation of food to restaurants. So even services, leisure and hospitality get hit when energy prices spike, so that possibility is always there.”
The PPI’s energy index, which increased 0.7% in June, showed that prices were flat for July.
“So the fact that energy prices were not a contributor tho this month’s reading makes this number jumping a bit a stark reminder that the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation and their rhetoric regarding that fight is going to remain hawkish in the near term.”
Iconic canned soup company Campbell is expanding its reach in the Italian food market.
Campbell (CPB) announcedMonday that it would acquire Sovos Brands, maker of the popular Italian food brands like Rao’s sauces and Michael Angelo’s frozen entrees, as well as noosa yogurt, in a deal worth $2.7 billion.
“We’re thrilled to add the most compelling growth story in the food industry and welcome the talented employees who have built a nearly $1 billion portfolio,” Campbell’s president and CEO Mark Clouse said in a statement. “The Sovos Brands portfolio strengthens and diversifies our Meals & Beverages division and paired with our faster-growing and differentiated Snacks division, makes Campbell one of the most dependable, growth-oriented names in food.”
Campbell’s Meals & Beverages division includes its trademark soups, SpaghettiO’s, juice brand V8 and Prego sauces. But Campbell said Rao’s sauces attract a different consumer set than Prego’s.
“Rao’s is the premium, market-leading sauce and it strengthens and diversifies our Meals & Beverages portfolio, complementing the core, mainstream portfolio,” the company told CNN. “It also provides an opportunity for expansion to adjacent categories like frozen meals, dry pasta, premium ready to serve soups.”
By acquiring premium frozen meal brand Michael Angelo’s, Campbell will also beef up the frozen food portfolio it already owns under its Pepperidge Farm’s brand.
While popular yogurt brand noosa is “not core to our strategy,” the company told CNN, “noosa is terrific, well-run business, with great products and strong profitability… The strength of the business will allow us to be patient as we evaluate strategic alternatives.
Sovos Brands founder and head Todd Lachman called the acquisition a “momentous occasion.”
“We have built a one-of-a-kind, high growth food company focused on taste-led products across a portfolio of premium brands, anchored by the Rao’s brand,” he said in a statement included in Campbell’s news release. “This transaction is expected to create substantial value for our shareholders, resulting in a 92% increase from our 2021 IPO price.”
Shares of Campbell on Monday closed at $44.34, down $0.81, or 1.79%.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway swung to a profit in the second quarter owed to its investment portfolio and insurance holdings, according to a release out Saturday.
The holding company with businesses that range from insurer Geico and railroad BNSF Railway to Dairy Queen restaurants and its own energy division posted net income of $35.9 billion, or $24,775 a class A share equivalent. That compared with a loss of $43.8 billion, or $29,754 a class A share equivalent, a year earlier.
BRK.B, -1.08%
after-tax operating earnings, a figure Warren Buffett wants shareholders to and which excludes some investment results, rose 6% to just over $10 billion from $9.3 billion a year earlier. Regulations do require Berkshire to include unrealized gains and losses from its investment portfolio when it reports its net income.
Berkshire’s stock repurchases totaled $1.4 billion in the second quarter, compared with $4.4 billion in the first quarter and $1 billion for the year-earlier period. The Q2 repurchases were below an estimate of $2.2 billion from UBS analyst Brian Meredith.
Reduced buybacks did come alongside appreciation in Berkshire stock, which was up 10% in the second quarter.
Berkshire ended the second quarter with $147.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents, compared with $105.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
Berkshire’s Class A shares have been hovering near all-time highs, up 21% over the past year and bringing the company’s market value to roughly $780 billion.
The second-quarter earnings season so far is showing that one trend that featured in the first quarter has not gone away.
“Greedflation,” or the practice of companies raising prices to protect their profit margins, is alive and well, based on the number of companies that have so far acknowledged raising prices yet again, even as inflation readings have come down and as some acknowledge that their input costs are falling.
At the same time, companies continue to emphasize on earnings calls that their customers are showing signs they are weary of higher prices and are shopping more frequently at more stores, while spending less per trip.
“Across industries, we’ve seen the same story over and over the last two years,” said Liz Zelnick, director of economic security and corporate power at Accountable.US, a liberal-leaning consumer-advocacy group.
“CEOs claim outside forces made them gouge consumers, then turn around and give themselves raises and boast of record profits and billions in new investor handouts,” she said, referring to the billions of stock buybacks and dividend payouts the same companies have made.
On a call with analysts, Chief Executive Jon Moeller signaled more price increases to come, which he attributed to the company’s innovation pipeline, which is creating must-have products.
“If you look back historically, pricing has been a positive contributor to our top-line growth for something like 48 out of the 51 last quarters and again as we strengthen our innovation program even further, that will provide opportunities to continue to benefit from modest pricing,” said Moeller, according to a FactSet transcript.
The company blew past earnings estimates with adjusted per-share earnings of $1.37, ahead of the $1.32 FactSet consensus, and sales of $20.6 billion, versus the $20 billion FactSet consensus.
Gross margin increased 380 basis points from a year ago, driven by 340 basis points of pricing benefit and 290 basis points of productivity savings.
Coca-Cola Co. KO, -1.51%
also swept past estimates and raised guidance after the drinks and snacks giant increased prices by 10%. The company’s adjusted operating margin rose to 31.6% from 30.6% a year ago.
Conagra Brands Inc. CAG, -0.62%
raised prices by up to 17%, which Chief Executive Sean Connolly described as “inflation-justified.” The parent of brands such as Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Hunt’s, Orville Redenbacher’s and Slim Jim also reported that its customers are buying less food to stretch their budgets.
“[W]hile we did lose share in the quarter, as price gaps have stayed wider for longer than we would have liked, we are managing the business for the long term and still generated mid-single-digit top-line growth within the range of what we expected,” Chief Executive Miguel Patricio said.
The company, parent to brands including Kraft Mac and Cheese, Heinz Ketchup, Jell-O and Lunchables, indicated on the post-earnings conference call with analysts that rather than increasing discounting, or just cutting prices, it will remain focused on protecting margins, which has been allowing it to accelerate investment in the business, particularly in marketing, research and development and technology.
Besides, as Chief Financial Officer Andre Maciel said, the gaps between Kraft’s prices and those of competitors are not getting worse. “If anything, they are slightly getting better,” Maciel said, according to an AlphaSense transcript.
Considering the market-share losses and with inflation coming down, “do you think you took too much price, given you said you took price ahead of competitors, and they have not followed?” UBS analyst Cody Ross asked on the conference call.
CEO Miguel Patricio’s answer was simple: “No.”
“I mean, we had very high inflation. And we are leaders in the vast majority of categories where we play. And it’s our role as leader to try to compensate … this inflation with price increases,” Patricio said. “So I would do everything again. I mean we can always go back on price if we think we have to or when we have to. But we had to lead price increases.”
All of that leaves families to foot the bill for higher food prices, said Accountable.US’s Zelnick.
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund XLP
has gained 1.2% in the year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT
has gained 10.3%. The S&P 500 XRT
has gained 17%.
Tupperware Brands Corp.’s stock climbed more than 90% in extended trading Thursday after the beleaguered maker of iconic food containers announced a debt restructuring agreement.
The surge sent the stock hurtling toward a nine-month high. In a statement released after market close, Tupperware TUP, -4.09%
said that it has finalized an agreement with its lenders to restructure its existing debt obligations. The agreement will improve the company’s overall financial position by amending certain credit obligations and extending the maturity of certain debt facilities to allow it to continue with its turnaround efforts, Tupperware said.
The agreement provides for the reduction/reallocation of $150 million in interest and fees, and an extension of the stated maturity of approximately $348 million of principal and reallocated interest and fees to fiscal year 2027 with payment-in-kind, or PIK, interest.
Tupperware also announced the reduction of amortization payments required to be paid through fiscal year 2025 by approximately $55 million, and immediate access to a revolving borrowing capacity of approximately $21 million.
“I am confident that this agreement provides us with the financial flexibility to continue executing on our near-term turnaround efforts as well as our long-term strategy to create a global omni-channel consumer brand,” Tupperware CFO Mariela Matute said in the statement. “We are committed to making ongoing progress in improving liquidity and strengthening our capital structure. We appreciate the support of our lenders, who share in our strategy, as we move forward.”
In April, Tupperware issued a going-concern warning, essentially cautioning that it could go bust. The beleaguered company also announced the hiring of financial advisers to help it navigate its near-term challenges. On July 7, Tupperware said that it had entered a waiver agreement with some of its creditors.
Also on Thursday, Tupperware said that its second-quarter earnings report will be filed late. In an SEC filing, Tupperware explained that it is unable to file its report for the quarter ended July 1 by the prescribed due date. Tupperware cited “the time and effort” required to complete its consolidated financial statements for its Form 10-K annual report for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2022 and the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 1, 2023. “The company will be unable, without unreasonable effort or expense, to complete and file the Q2 Form 10-Q within the prescribed time period,” it said. “As previously disclosed on its Form 8-K on April 7, 2023, the Company is continuing its restatement of previously issued financial statements and the financial statement close process for the year ended December 31, 2022.”
Since the 8-K filing, Tupperware has “identified additional prior period misstatements and additional material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting,” the company said. The April 7 8-K filing also disclosed the company’s “substantial doubt” about Tupperware’s ability to continue as a going concern. “While the Company is still completing its second-quarter 2023 financial close process, it expects that its Q2 Form 10-Q will reflect a material decline in revenues for the quarter ended July 1, 2023 as compared to the quarter ended June 25, 2022,” Tupperware said in the filing. “The Company believes that its preliminary estimated revenue results for the quarter ended July 1, 2023 will be within the range of $260-$270 million.”
Tupperware’s stock has skyrocketed recently, despite a dearth of fresh news. Nonetheless, Tupperware should not be confused with a meme stock, according to Samantha LaDuc, founder of LaDucTrading.com. Tupperware’s recent trading activity is also reminiscent of spikes in other names also recently seen as “left for dead,” as LaDuc put it to MarketWatch last week.
The second-quarter earnings season so far is showing that one trend that featured in the first quarter has not gone away.
“Greedflation,” or the practice of companies raising prices to protect their profit margins, is alive and well, based on the number of companies that have so far acknowledged raising prices yet again, even as inflation readings have come down and as some acknowledge that their input costs are falling.
At the same time, companies continue to emphasize on earnings calls that their customers are showing signs they are weary of higher prices and are shopping more frequently at more stores, while spending less per trip.
“Across industries, we’ve seen the same story over and over the last two years,” said Liz Zelnick, director of economic security and corporate power at Accountable.US, a liberal-leaning consumer-advocacy group.
“CEOs claim outside forces made them gouge consumers, then turn around and give themselves raises and boast of record profits and billions in new investor handouts,” she said, referring to the billions of stock buybacks and dividend payouts the same companies have made.
On a call with analysts, Chief Executive Jon Moeller signaled more price increases to come, which he attributed to the company’s innovation pipeline, which is creating must-have products.
“If you look back historically, pricing has been a positive contributor to our top-line growth for something like 48 out of the 51 last quarters and again as we strengthen our innovation program even further, that will provide opportunities to continue to benefit from modest pricing,” said Moeller, according to a FactSet transcript.
The company blew past earnings estimates with adjusted per-share earnings of $1.37, ahead of the $1.32 FactSet consensus, and sales of $20.6 billion, versus the $20 billion FactSet consensus.
Gross margin increased 380 basis points from a year ago, driven by 340 basis points of pricing benefit and 290 basis points of productivity savings.
Coca-Cola Co. KO, -0.49%
also swept past estimates and raised guidance after the drinks and snacks giant increased prices by 10%. The company’s adjusted operating margin rose to 31.6% from 30.6% a year ago.
Conagra Brands Inc. CAG, -0.75%
raised prices by up to 17%, which Chief Executive Sean Connolly described as “inflation-justified.” The parent of brands such as Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Hunt’s, Orville Redenbacher’s and Slim Jim also reported that its customers are buying less food to stretch their budgets.
“[W]hile we did lose share in the quarter, as price gaps have stayed wider for longer than we would have liked, we are managing the business for the long term and still generated mid-single-digit top-line growth within the range of what we expected,” Chief Executive Miguel Patricio said.
The company, parent to brands including Kraft Mac and Cheese, Heinz Ketchup, Jell-O and Lunchables, indicated on the post-earnings conference call with analysts that rather than increasing discounting, or just cutting prices, it will remain focused on protecting margins, which has been allowing it to accelerate investment in the business, particularly in marketing, research and development and technology.
Besides, as Chief Financial Officer Andre Maciel said, the gaps between Kraft’s prices and those of competitors are not getting worse. “If anything, they are slightly getting better,” Maciel said, according to an AlphaSense transcript.
Considering the market-share losses and with inflation coming down, “do you think you took too much price, given you said you took price ahead of competitors, and they have not followed?” UBS analyst Cody Ross asked on the conference call.
CEO Miguel Patricio’s answer was simple: “No.”
“I mean, we had very high inflation. And we are leaders in the vast majority of categories where we play. And it’s our role as leader to try to compensate … this inflation with price increases,” Patricio said. “So I would do everything again. I mean we can always go back on price if we think we have to or when we have to. But we had to lead price increases.”
All of that leaves families to foot the bill for higher food prices, said Accountable.US’s Zelnick.
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund XLP
has gained 1.2% in the year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT
has gained 10.3%. The S&P 500 XRT
has gained 17%.
Shares of Tupperware Brands Corp. TUP, -31.78%
tumbled 18.8% in morning trading Wednesday, which puts them on track to snap a five-day win streak, and to suffer the biggest one-day drop since it sank 27.5% on May 8. The food-storage container company’s “meme”-like stock, which closed Tuesday at the highest price since Nov. 15, 2022, had rocketed 304.5% over the previous five-sessions, and skyrocketed 767.7%. amid a 10-session stretch through Tuesday in which it had gained nine times. The stock has run up 273.5% over the past three months, but was still down 39.3% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.38%
has gained 10.8% over the past year.
China has banned the use of iPhones for central government officials, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
The WSJ reports that managers have been notifying staff of the ban viachat groups or meetings.
CNN has reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Apple (AAPL), but has not received a response.
A source who regularly deals with Chinese central government agencies told CNN that Chinese officials had already been following an unwritten rule of shunning iPhones for months despite the absence of a formal policy. The source asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject.
Last June, CNN reported that some Chinese government ministries had banned Teslas from entering their premises over security fears.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made a high profile visit to the country in March. China is a significant market and manufacturing center for the company, accounting for around 19% of its overall revenue.
The iPhone ban for government officials may be retaliation for similar moves made by the US against Chinese tech, and could have a chilling effect on Apple and other large foreign brands with an established China presence.
China’s Huawei and ZTE have long been subject to US restrictions. And in November 2022, the Biden administration banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from both companies because they pose “an unacceptable risk” to US national security.
TikTok has also been banned from devices issued by multiple US institutions, including the House of Representatives, the City of New York, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Georgia, over concerns that the Chinese government could have access to users’ data through its Chinese parent company, Bytedance.
— CNN’s Beijing bureau contributed to this article.
The new iPhone 15 Pro lineup offers the typical slate of new features designed to persuade customers to upgrade: They’re slimmer and thinner than last year’s crop. The new cameras are professional-grade and the switch to USB-C charging will make your life easier.
But one new feature easily stands out: The Action Button.
Apple has repurposed its physical mute button on the side of its high-end models into a more customizable tool, allowing users to carry out a handful of commands, from recording a voice memo and taking a picture to turning on the flashlight. The button can also be programmed to launch any app or shortcut, essentially turning it into a remote control or launching pad to gain quick access to something you want on demand.
In the days since Apple’s iPhone 15 event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters, I’ve used it to load a variety of apps in a single press, including CNN, Amazon and Instagram. It’s certain the Action Button will become a viable resource for anyone who revisits an app time and time again throughout the day.
But it also has the potential to become an even more powerful tool; you could program it to play your favorite playlist, turn on the smart lights in your living room or use it to open the garage door. You could even turn it into a dedicated button to call mom. It builds on iOS’sexisting offering of ready-made or custom shortcuts, and Apple is encouraging developers to build other unique shortcuts that other userscould activate on the Action Button.
The change is subtle but it’s one of the few noticeable tweaks to the iPhone’s design this year. The Action Button is about the same size as the existing button, and users still hold it down to switch between muting and turning on the ringer. Commands are accompanied with visual feedback from the Dynamic Island bar — home to alerts and notifications atthe top of the screen.
The Action Button update, along with changes in the phone’s charging and camera systems, comes as Apple looks to give consumers more reasons to upgrade their iPhones. Last month, Apple’s sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as people update their devices less often.
Another selling point to splurge for the iPhone 15 Pro ($1,099) or iPhone 15 Pro Max ($1,199):The phones come with a titanium casing — the same alloy used to build the Mars Rover — making them what Apple calls the thinnest and lightest Pro models to date. Apple’s entry level iPhones, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, cost $799 and $899, respectively. The entire lineup starts shipping on Friday.
To program the Action Button, iPhone 15 Pro users can visit the button’s section in Settings, scroll through and select from a series of functionalities — such as flashlight or camera. By picking the shortcuts option, however, users can sift through their list of apps or previously established commands.
Once set, there’s a slight learning curve following years of falling into the habit of using the physical button to turn the volume on and off. For this reason, it could take quite a while for some of iPhone’s loyalists to change how they use the device.
The Action Button isn’t entirely new; the company unveiled it last year on the Apple Watch Ultra. Apple told CNN it was inspired to bring it to the iPhone after hearing anecdotes from users who said they consistently leave their phone on silent, rendering that button essentially useless. Considering iPhone usage has changed a lot since the iPhone debuted 16 years ago, revisiting a hallmark feature like the mute button was only a matter of time, according to the company.
Ramon Llamas, a director at market research firm IDC, believes last week’s announcement is only the first step toward making the Action Button more dynamic. “I’d like to think that the Action Button could be expanded a bit more, like one click will take you to one feature; two clicks takes you to another, and three clicks gets you something else,” Llamas said. “But I think that would be it. Any more than that and you risk launching the wrong app, like Wordle, at the wrong time (when you need your camera the most),” he said.
It’s also a strategic way for Apple to make the most of already tight real estate on the device, according to Llamas. Annette Zimmerman, a VP analyst with market research firm Gartner, agrees, noting that “having one button to do exactly one thing isn’t really progressive in a time where everything has multi-functionality and can be programmed.”
Although it’s unclear if the Action Button will come to more devices in the future, Apple continues its sweep to create a uniform ecosystem for its consumers. Similarly, Apple is adding a Double Tap feature that allows people to use a finger feature to control the Apple Watch, just months after it showed off a similar gesture on its upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset.
For now, iPhone 15 Pro users will enjoy playing with the new Action Button. While the feature is not worth the upgrade to iPhone 15 alone, the switch to universal charging, a faster processor and advanced camera capabilities make it a solid package, especially if you haven’t upgraded in the last few years.
Get your thumb ready for next month. Apple
(AAPL) is making a subtle change to the iPhone’s software that will likely mess with your muscle memory: The big red “end call” button is moving.
The iPhone’s phone app will get a series of updates coming to iOS 17, including an updated design that repositions the hang up button to the bottom right of the screen, next to other functions. The button currently sits separately at the bottom middle of the phone app, underneath the buttons to mute, access the keypad or add a call.
The new call screen, which is already available for download in a beta version for developers, sparked some strong reactions among iOS users on social media: “iOS 17 has the FaceTime button where the end call button used to be,” tweeted one user. “Muscle memory be damned.”
The change is likely to streamline the look of the phone app and put all functions in one place. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
At its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in May, the company showed off a slew of new tools coming to iOS 17 that make calling and messaging others more personalized and customized. iPhone users, for example, will be able to design contact “posters,” a custom image to appear when they call someone or receive their call.
Meanwhile, a new feature called Live Voicemail will transcribe a caller’s message in real time, so users can decide whether to ignore or take the call, and a tool called NameDrop will let users share their contact information by holding two iPhones close together. In addition, FaceTime will support the ability to leave video messages when someone isn’t available to chat.
Other changes coming to iOS 17 include a more accurate autocorrect, improved dictation in iMessage, and a more responsive Siri. Apple typically launches its latest mobile operating system in September, following its annual iPhone event.
Thousands of people in Maui are without cell service as the wildfires continue to rage out of control on the island, preventing people from calling emergency services or updating loved ones about their status. It could take days or even weeks to get the networks back up and running.
“911 is down. Cell service is down. Phone service is down,” Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told CNN on Wednesday morning.
Although strong winds can sometimes threaten cell towers, most are strong enough to handle the worst that even a Category 5 hurricane can bring. Fire, however, complicates the issue.
“When the fires get too close to cell sites, they will obviously burn equipment, antennas, and feedlines,” said Glenn O’Donnell, VP of research at market research firm Forrester. “In extreme cases, they will also weaken the towers, leading some to collapse. The smoke and flames can also attenuate signals because of the particulate density in the air.”
If a tower collapses, cell networks could take months to restore. But if carriers are able and prepared to do restorations with mobile backup units, it could bring limited service back within hours, O’Donnell said. Wireless carriers often bring in COWs (Cells On Wheels), COLTs (Cells On Light Trucks), and GOaTs (Generators on Trailers) in emergencies to provide backup service when cell towers go down.
Power outages are also a threat to cell phone towers. The Maui disaster has already wiped out power to at least 14,000 homes and businesses in the area, according to PowerOutage.us. Many towers have backup power generators, but they have limited capacity to keep towers running.
Cell towers have back-up technology built in, but this is typically done through optical fiber cables or microwave (wireless) links, according to Dimitris Mavrakis, senior researcher at ABI Research. However, if something extraordinary happens, such as interaction with rampant fires, these links may experience “catastrophic failures and leave cells without a connection to the rest of the world.”
And, in an emergency, a spike in call volume can overload the system – even if people are able to get reception.
“Even cells that have a good service may experience outages due to the sheer volume of communication happening at once,” Mavrakis said. “Everyone in these areas may be trying to contact relatives or the authorities at once, saturating the network and causing an outage. This is easier to correct though and network operators may put in place additional measures to render them operational quickly.”
A T-Mobile spokesperson said the company is monitoring the situation and assessing the fire’s impact on its equipment in the area.
“When conditions are safe, our Emergency Management Team will deploy portable, agile satellite and microwave solutions that will restore service in impacted areas,” the spokesperson said. “We also have portable generators ready to deploy to sites affected by commercial power loss, and our Emergency Response Team is working with FEMA and the state of Hawaii to support firefighters and other first responders, organizations and communities.”
An AT&T spokesperson told CNN it is also assessing the’ impact to its wireless network and “will continue to coordinate closely with local utility companies on restoration progress.” The company is waiving talk, text and data overage charges during this time.
Verizon did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Satellite networks, however, continue to operate regardless of what’s happening on the ground. This means satellite phones, which often feature large antennas, can help provide voice, SMS, and data services anywhere on Earth, even without cell service.
Satellite phones have been popularized over the years by hikers, emergency responders and intrepid travelers, but they are are expensive and are not mainstream products. However, some newer smartphone models – including the latest model iPhone 14 and some phones built by Motorola and Huawei – offer built-in satellite connectivity, which allows the sending of SOS messages via satellites.
For example, Apple’s free Emergency SOS via satellite service, which launched last year, allows iPhone users to contact dedicated dispatchers in emergency situations via satellites. When a user attempts to call 911 and is unable to get on a cell network, they will be automatically redirected to the service’s dispatchers where they can answer a questionnaire with short multiple choice questions to share information quickly. The dispatchers also receive their coordinates, medical ID and emergency contact information.
Apple told CNN the feature is reserved for connections to emergency services and does not allow users to contact friends and family. For anyone who has access to a Wi-Fi connection while wearing an Apple Watch, the Walkie-Talkie feature could also be used to send messages or make calls. However, Wi-Fi networks can also fail when optical fiber networks are disrupted.
Although it’s unclear how long cell phone service could be down in affected regions, companies have been able to bring connectivity to disaster regions in the past. In 2017, Google worked with AT&T and T-Mobile to deploy its Project Loon balloons to deliver Internet to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Hawaii’s Red Cross recently tweeted that people can call 1-800-RED-CROSS to see if their loved ones are at a local shelter.
SK Hynix, a South Korean chipmaker, is investigating how two of its memory chips mysteriously ended up inside the Mate 60 Pro, a controversial smartphone launched by Huawei last week.
Shares in Hynix fell more than 4% on Friday after it emerged that two of its products, a 12 gigabyte (GB) LPDDR5 chip and 512 GB NAND flash memory chip, were found inside the Huawei handset by TechInsights, a research organization based in Canada specializing in semiconductors, which took the phone apart for analysis.
“The significance of the development is that there are restrictions on what SK Hynix can ship to China,” G Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights, told CNN. “Where do these chips come from? The big question is whether any laws were violated.”
A Hynix spokesperson told CNN Friday that it was aware of its chips being used in the Huawei phone and had started investigating the issue.
The company “no longer does business with Huawei since the introduction of the US restrictions against the company,” it said in a statement.
“SK Hynix is strictly abiding by the US government’s export restrictions,” the company said.
Industry insiders said it was possible that Huawei had purchased the memory chips from the secondary market and not directly from the manufacturer. It’s also possible Huawei may have had a stockpile of components accumulated before the US export curbs kicked in fully.
TechInsights had previously revealed that the “brains” of the phone were powered by a 5G Kirin 9000s chip made by China’s top chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, better known as SMIC.
It is still examining the Mate 60 Pro and does not rule out the possibility of finding more components made by companies subject to US trade sanctions. So far, it has found that most of the phone’s components were provided by Chinese suppliers.
Analysts have said the smartphone is a major breakthrough for China as it clashes with the United States over access to advanced technology.
The development prompted two US congressmen, Mike Gallagher and Michael McCaul, to call on the White House – which is seeking more information about the phone – to further restrict technology export sales to Chinese companies.
Huawei and SMIC have not replied to requests for comment.
In 2019, the US government banned American companies from selling software and equipment to Huawei. It also restricted international chipmakers using US-made technology from working with the company.
That is why, four years later, last week’s launch of the Mate 60 Pro shocked industry experts who didn’t understand how Huawei, which is headquartered in Shenzhen, would have the ability to manufacture such an advanced smartphone following sweeping efforts by the United States to restrict China’s access to foreign chip technology.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says the US government has no evidence that Huawei can produce smartphones with advanced chips “at scale,” as it continues to investigate how the sanctioned Chinese manufacturer made an apparent breakthrough with its latest flagship device.
On Tuesday, Raimondo told US lawmakers that she was “upset” by news of the launch of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro during her visit to China last month.
“The only good news, if there is any, is we don’t have any evidence that they can manufacture 7-nanometer [chips] at scale,” she told a US House of Representatives hearing.
“Although I can’t talk about any investigations specifically, I promise you this: every time we find credible evidence that any company has gone around our export controls, we do investigate.”
Analysts who have examined the smartphone said it represented a “milestone” achievement for China, suggesting Huawei may have found a way to overcome American export controls.
US officials have long argued that the company poses a risk to US national security, using it as grounds to restrict trade with the company. Huawei has vehemently denied the claims.
TechInsights, a research organization that specializes in semiconductors and took the phone apart for analysis, says it includes a 5G Kirin 9000s processor developed by China’s leading chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
That surprised many because SMIC, a partially state-owned Chinese company, has also been subject to US export restrictions for years. It has not responded to previous requests for comment from CNN.
TechInsights also found two chips belonging to SK Hynix, a South Korean chipmaker, inside the handset.
A SK Hynix spokesperson told CNN earlier this month that it was aware of the issue and investigating how that was possible, since the South Korean firm “no longer does business with Huawei” because of US export controls.
Huawei declined to comment on the capabilities and components of its phone.
Raimondo said Tuesday that US officials were “trying to use every single tool at our disposal … to deny the Chinese an ability to get intellectual property to advance their technology in ways that can hurt us.”
In 2019, Huawei was added to the US “entity list,” which restricts exports to select organizations without a US government license. The following year, the US government expanded on those curbs by seeking to cut Huawei off from chip suppliers that use US technology.
That left the company, once the world’s second largest smartphone seller, in bad shape.
As of the second quarter of 2023, Huawei was no longer in the top five of mobile phone vendors in China, let alone globally, according to Counterpoint Research.
But its new phone is a big help for the company — and may pose a challenge to Apple’s (AAPL) market share in China, according to Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint.
Huawei is scheduled to hold a product launch event next Monday, where new phones are expected to be the main focus, according to Toby Zhu, a Canalys mobility analyst.
Other devices, like tablets or earphones, may also be shown off. Huawei has not publicly released details of the event.
In the coming months, the firm plans to release another 5G phone, possibly under Nova, its mid-range lineup, Chinese news outlet IT Times reported Tuesday, citing unidentified industry sources. Huawei declined to comment.
Zhu said the phone was widely expected to come with 5G capability, powered either by the “Kirin 9000s chip or another chip.”
If it does, the new model could become even more popular than the Mate 60 Pro, which starts at 6,999 yuan (about $959), because of its relative affordability, he added.
While Raimondo was unhappy with the timing of Huawei’s launch, analysts say it was unlikely to have been arranged to coincide with her presence in China.
It was likely“a marketing campaign aimed at winning over customer interest before the iPhone 15 hits the market,” analysts at Eurasia Group wrote in a report.
The move helped the Shenzhen-based company capture the second spot in China’s smartphone market in the first week of September, ahead of Apple’s big event, said Lam of Counterpoint.
— Rashard Rose and Mengchen Zhang contributed to this report.
An executive at Vivo, one of China’s top smartphone makers, has been arrested in India in connection with a money laundering probe, raising fears of a renewed crackdown on Chinese businesses in the country.
Guangwen Kuang, the head of administration at Vivo India, was taken into custody on Tuesday by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), his lawyer, Mudit Jain, told CNN. The ED is the country’s main financial crimes investigation agency, responsible for probing money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws.
Kuang, a Chinese national, was arrested alongside three other people and would be held in custody for three days, according to a court document shared with CNN by Jain.
One of the other detainees was a person who had helped Vivo set up its offices in India, and the other twowere accountants, according to the document.
In a statement to CNN, a Vivo spokesperson confirmed that one employee had been arrested and vowed that the company would “exercise all available legal options.”
“The recent arrest deeply concerns us,” the representative said. “Vivo firmly adheres to its ethical principles and remains dedicated to legal compliance.”
Allegations of money laundering against Vivo were first made in July 2022, when the ED said it had carried out searches at 48 Vivo locations in the country and seized $60 million from the company’s bank accounts.
The agency accused Vivo of tax fraud and said the firm had remitted 624.8 billion rupees ($7.9 billion), mostly to China.
“These remittances were made in order to disclose huge losses in Indian incorporated companies to avoid payment of taxes in India,” the ED said at the time.
The company said at the time that it was cooperating with the investigation.
The raids came two months after India seized more than $700 million from another big Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi, which was also accused of moving money out of the country illegally.
Xiaomi denied wrongdoing, saying all its operations were “firmly compliant with local laws and regulations.”
Xiaomi and Vivo are hugely popular with Indian consumers, both ranking in the top three of the country’s vast smartphone market behind Samsung.
Despite the regulatory crackdown, Vivo is still India’s second biggest smartphone brand, commanding 17% of the market in the second quarter, according to Counterpoint Research.
Xiaomi, meanwhile, has seen its market share slip from 19% to 15% in the same period.
Relations between China and India soured significantly after a deadly clash at their shared contested border in 2020. Authorities in India later banned Chinese apps and subjected deals with Chinese firms to greater scrutiny.
Since then, tensions between India and China have continued to simmer.
Vivo’s troubles this week prompted a swift reaction in Chinese media. State-run tabloid Global Times accused India of “rising protectionism.”
The executive’s detainment appears to signal a “hardened crackdown on Chinese companies,” the outlet said in a report Wednesday.
China’s embassy in India has previously warned that the probes of Chinese firms in India risked damaging its reputation among foreign investors and have disrupted “normal business activities.”
Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 15 in just a few days, and it’s widely expected to come with a significant change.
The iPhone 15 is heavily rumored to ditch Apple’s proprietary Lightning charger in favor of USB-C charging, marking a milestone for the company by adopting universal charging. The change could ultimately streamline the charging process across various devices —and brands.
The switch would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare downthe number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device, and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.
“This is arguably the biggest disruption to iPhone design for several years, but in reality, it is hardly a dramatic move,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight.
That’s because Apple
(AAPL) has previously switched its iPads and MacBooks to USB-C charging. Still, the company has been resistant to making the change on the iPhone.
Last year, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, publicly stressed the value and ubiquity of the Lightning charger, which is designed for faster device charging, but noted “obviously we will have to comply” with the EU mandate.
“We have no choice, like we do around the world, to comply with local laws, but we think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government [have] that perspective,” Joswiak said at the time.
The EU’s decision is part of a greater effort to tackle e-waste overall, but could it generate more in the short term as people phase out their Lightning cables. (Apple will also likely need to develop a Lightning cable recycling program.)
Although Apple has voiced environmental concerns over what happens to old Lightning chargers, it has financial reasons for pushing back on the change, too.
Apple introduced the Lightning charger alongside the iPhone 5 in 2012, replacing its existing older 30-pin dock connector with one that enabled faster charging and hada reversible design. It also ignited a related accessories business, requiring users to buy a $30 Lightning adapter to connect the device to older docks, alarm clocks and speaker systems.
“For Apple, it was all about being in control of its own ecosystem,” said David McQueen, a director at ABI Research. “Apple makes good money from selling Lightning cables and its many related accessories.”
It also takes a financial cut from the third-party accessories and cables that go through its Made For iPhone program. “Moving to USB Type C would take away this level of control as USB-C is a much more open ecosystem,” McQueen said.
In addition, Apple could create its own branded USB-C cable to perform “better with an iPhone,” such as allowing for greater wattageto support faster charging while minimizing risk and damage to batteries, he added.
It’s currently unclear if the shift to USB-C will happen for all new iPhone 15 models or only for Pro devices. The move to USB-C won’t likely be a sole incentive for people to upgrade, but it could sway some consumers who have been resistant to theiPhone over its charging limitations, according to Thomas Husson, a vice president at Forrester Research.
The iPhone 15 devices are expected to ship with a new cable in the box, but considering many mobile devices already use USB-C, including Apple’s own iPads and MacBooks, access to charging wires shouldn’t be too hard or costly.
“Given how widely USB-C has been used in other devices, it’s hard to imagine that customers will be totally caught out by this switch, and in the long term, it’s likely to benefit them, with a universal charging system having some very obvious upsides,” Wood said.
Apple could also bypass wired charging altogether to make way for wireless charging but not anytime soon because “wireless charging is currently so much slower than wired,” according to McQueen. “We’ll have to wait and see on that.”
