In recent years, a new type of message has begun to appear in Apple presentations: without an Apple Watch, you could be mauled by a bear, you could choke in a sinking car, get stuck in a garbage container, or even die from hypothermia by falling into an icy lake. The Verge decided to discuss these changes.
All these disasters were avoided thanks to the Apple Watch. But this year, Apple’s position began to change again: not only the Apple Watch, but also the iPhone can save you from possible death.
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At the presentation of the iPhone 15, the company presented an advertising video in which it wove together the life-saving potential of both smart watches and smartphones. The video shows how people celebrate their birthday with friends and family, blowing out candles and, of course, wishing each other a happy birthday on their iPhone.
As the main characters appeared in the ad, captions appeared at the bottom, for example: “The Apple Watch informed her that her heart rate was low. She went to the hospital and had life-saving surgery to install a pacemaker.” The next report told of a person who used the Emergency SOS feature on an iPhone to escape being caught in a snowstorm, and another of a pregnant woman who was rushed to the hospital after her Apple Watch recorded a high pulse.
This comes after Apple’s recent commercials touting how the iPhone 14 can save you if your car overturns or you get stranded on a mountaintop.
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And the advertising is not entirely disingenuous: there are dozens of real cases of people being saved thanks to an iPhone or smart watch. The company has added fall detection, an electrocardiogram, and even a blood oxygen sensor to the smartwatch. Last year, Apple announced a new Crash Detection feature for Apple Watch and iPhone 14 that automatically alerts emergency services if it detects that you’ve been in a car accident. And last year, Apple added a feature to smartphones that allows users to contact emergency services via satellite if there is no cellular service.
These are certainly great features, but there’s a reason why Apple’s approach to their advertising is jarring: They sell us a product using concerns about our own mortality – buy an Apple device or risk your life. These ads play more on fear than hope, and they stand in stark contrast to the ads Apple typically releases for its devices. Smartwatch ads from two years ago showed people using their Apple Watch to improve their fitness, for example, or showed people using the device to connect with loved ones.
Perhaps the reason for this approach lies elsewhere. Features like activity tracking and wrist-based connectivity no longer help the Apple Watch stand out from the competition.
Competitors like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 and Google’s Pixel Watch have caught up with the Apple Watch in terms of health sensors, but still lack crash detection capabilities. The same can be said about the iPhone. Apple may have just now added USB-C and periscope cameras, but Android smartphones still don’t have satellite connectivity (though it’s likely coming soon). Additionally, the addition of new features such as satellite connectivity, roadside assistance, and traffic accident detection will differentiate new Apple devices from older ones and perhaps give users a compelling reason to upgrade.
These features could bring additional revenue to Apple as well. Apple’s services business generated record revenue last quarter, driven by more than 1 billion paid subscribers across Apple Music, TV+, iCloud Plus and its Apple One bundled service. This list of services will soon include satellite communications and Satellite Roadside Assistance, as satellite communications is free only for iPhone 14 users for two years, and a similar promotion applies to Roadside Assistance for iPhone 15.
We don’t yet know how much Apple will make users pay after the trial ends, which will end for iPhone 14 users next year. However, the company seems confident that once it gets a customer, they won’t give up on these devices.
“They’re with us all the time,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said of the Watch and iPhone. “And if you left one of these at home, I’m willing to bet you’ll come back and pick it up.”
And when your life depends on it, who wouldn’t come back?
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