Apple’s latest iPhone brings hope for tech stocks – but only a little

APPLE is set to launch its latest iPhone – the iPhone 14 – on Wednesday (Sep 7), with 90 million units at the ready to meet anticipated global demand.

As usual, the Internet is awash with musings on all the details: design changes, pricing, colours and camera enhancements. With the iPhone release in the making, Apple stock rose over 15 per cent in the last 2 months as investors banked on higher prices for the iPhone 14 and speculated on other releases – augmented reality glasses, perhaps – from the company.

The real question, at least for investors, is whether the latest iPhone will give a lift to tech stocks in a year of uncontrollable market risk events, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Covid-19 lockdowns in China, snarled supply chains and escalating inflation, that have pushed economies to the brink of recession.