Apple unveils iPhone 16 with AI features

Good morning. Immediately we’re masking:

• Rising fears about Chinese language deflation

• A deal to purchase Japan’s most eccentric Hawaii-themed resort

• Tonight’s US presidential election debate

However first, Apple has unveiled the iPhone 16, which chief government Tim Cook dinner stated was the primary of its smartphones to be “designed from the bottom up” for synthetic intelligence.

The iPhone 16, which can go on sale September 20, comes because the tech large makes an attempt to ascertain itself as a participant within the AI house. It’s looking for to revive flagging iPhone gross sales with new generative AI options in its newest working system, iOS18.

“There’s a rising feeling that smartphone updates have develop into a bit boring,” stated Leo Gebbie at CCS Perception.

“Apple is just not proof against this pattern and is betting on software program and AI to breathe new life into its most vital product to reignite shopper curiosity and drive improve purchases.”

Wall Road analysts count on gross sales of the corporate’s flagship product will get a lift subsequent yr due to the brand new options. Here are the AI tools coming to the iPhone — plus more on the chip that makes it possible.

• Tech sector weak point: Enthusiasm about AI masks weak point throughout a lot of the expertise sector, with many companies “still in a recession” following a slowdown that began in 2022, in keeping with traders and evaluation of current monetary experiences.

Right here’s what else I’m conserving tabs on at this time:

• Financial knowledge: China publishes August commerce figures and Malaysia experiences manufacturing gross sales and its industrial manufacturing index for July.

• Huawei’s new telephone: The Chinese language tech large is ready to unveil its triple-folding smartphone, the Mate XT, a day after Apple launched its newest iPhone. (Reuters)

5 extra high tales

1. China’s producer costs slid in August, boosting fears that deflationary forces are taking root on the earth’s second-largest financial system. Final month’s fall in producer costs — 1.8 per cent yr on yr — was essentially the most in 4 months, dragged down by metal, agriculture and different sectors. Here’s why economists are concerned.

2. India’s Adani Group has warned Bangladesh’s new authorities that its backlog of overdue funds has develop into “unsustainable”, because the nation falls $500mn behind on dues from a contentious energy challenge. The pricey offers negotiated beneath Sheikh Hasina have left the interim government “firefighting”, stated the nation’s high vitality official.

3. Personal fairness group Fortress has agreed a $100mn deal to purchase Spa Resort Hawaiians, Japan’s oldest and most eccentric scorching springs resort which sits simply 50km from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. The Fortress bid comes with plans to take a position a further $70mn in upgrades to the Hawaiian-themed hotel, golf and waterslide complex — a favorite vacation spot of Japanese households because the Sixties.

4. The US Division of Justice’s newest antitrust trial in opposition to Google started yesterday, with the DoJ accusing the corporate of operating an enormous advert tech monopoly that cut off potential rivals and drove up costs for publishers and advertisers in an try and maximise income. The trial comes because the tech large contends with a landmark loss in a separate justice division antitrust case in opposition to it over search.

• Extra US information: Donald Trump is escalating his threats to increase tariffs on imports if he wins a second time period within the White Home, reviving fears of renewed commerce wars that hit the worldwide financial system throughout his presidency.

5. HSBC’s high executives have mentioned a cost-cutting plan to merge its industrial and funding banking items, bringing collectively two of its three divisions. A merger can be a big early transfer by new chief government Georges Elhedery. Here’s what we know about the proposal.

The Massive Learn

Introduced in 2019, the EU’s sprawling Inexperienced Deal local weather legislation goals to achieve internet zero emissions by 2050 and rewire the bloc’s financial system into one based mostly on recycling, reuse and longevity. But it surely has additionally turned out to be a bureaucratic machine that has spawned reams of laws that companies are struggling to implement, or even understand.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• US election: Kamala Harris badly needs a breakthrough in tonight’s debate to revive momentum to her marketing campaign, writes Gideon Rachman.

• Cost fraud: New UK guidelines that oblige banks to compensate scammed clients are a missed alternative to deal head-on with a rampant new kind of crime, writes Patrick Jenkins.

• Automobile-free Olympics?: Los Angeles loves its automobiles, however forward of the 2028 Olympics, the town has quietly develop into the leader in US public transport investment.

Chart of the day

For the reason that international monetary disaster of 2008, house costs adjusted for inflation are up about 2 per cent in Europe and 25 per cent in Japan — however more than 50 per cent in the US, writes Ruchir Sharma.

Take a break from the information

From international conflicts to the local weather disaster, it’s arduous to be optimistic in regards to the world nowadays. However Sergei Guriev, dean of the London Enterprise Faculty, says there are reasons to be hopeful.

Further contributions from Tee Zhuo and Melody Abike Adebisi