Apple's major 'Glowtime' event is make or break for its AI future

• Apple is expected to unveil devices including the eagerly awaited iPhone 16 at its Glowtime event.

• The tech giant's AI push started with its Apple Intelligence reveal in June.

• New AI-supporting iPhones, AirPods, and Apple Watch models may drive a major upgrade cycle.

Apple is gearing up to announce a new lineup of devices at its Glowtime event on Monday.

All eyes have been on the tech giant since it unveiled Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The artificial-intelligence arms race is underway in the industry, and a lot is riding on Apple's hardware to prove whether its investment in AI will pay off.

If it does, Apple "will be the gatekeeper of the consumer AI Revolution," the Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note on Friday. The event kicks off Monday at 1 p.m. ET at Apple Park in California and will be livestreamed on Apple's website.

Apple is said to be training store employees on the AI features in preparation for the launch. Last week, marketing exec Greg Joswiak teased the Glowtime event on X.

Analysts have hailed the launch as the key to sparking an iPhone upgrade boom; after all, Apple Intelligence will be fully available only on iPhone 15s and newer models — like the iPhone 16, which many expect Apple to unveil on Monday.

"There is a lot riding on these new iPhones," said Gadjo Sevilla, a tech analyst at Emarketer, a sister company to Business Insider. "They're Apple's most profitable product category and also the vital cog to the company's expanding universe of services and subscriptions, which is now their second most profitable business."

It hasn't been an easy year for Apple so far. The tech giant has been increasingly relying on its services — think subscriptions and its search engine deal with Google — to drive revenue as iPhone sales slip. Sales in Greater China — a key region for overall revenue — missed estimates last quarter.

In China, the tech giant is up against rival smartphone makers like Huawei and Xiaomi, but analysts expect the iPhone 16 to help turn the tide in Apple's favor.

The tech giant is also expected to launch new models of AirPods and the Apple Watch. The watches are set to have larger screens but be slimmed down. Midlevel AirPods could get noise cancellation, and the lower-end AirPods could also get updates.

"We believe the excitement over Apple Intelligence can potentially accelerate hardware replacement and enable market share gain for iPhone, iPad, and Mac," Oppenheimer strategists said in a note.

Wedbush analysts, who maintain an "outperform" rating and a $285 price target for Apple, have said that with about 1.5 billion iPhones in use, Apple is setting itself up to usher in a "golden upgrade cycle" after iPhone sales slipped in its latest quarter.

But it'll have to stick the landing at Monday's event and continue to deliver in the coming months.

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