Innovation to take back seat in launch of new iPhone

The new iPhone is expected to include features like high-resolution displays

When Apple launches its much-anticipated 10th anniversary iPhone this fall, it will offer an unwitting lesson in how much the smartphone industry it pioneered has matured.

The new iPhone is expected to include new features such as high-resolution displays, wireless charging and 3-D sensors. Rather than representing major breakthroughs, however, most of the innovations have been available in competing phones for several years.

Apple’s relatively slow adoption of new features both reflects and reinforces the fact smartphone customers are holding onto their phones longer. Timothy 

Arcuri, an analyst at Cowen & Co, believes upwards of 40 per cent of iPhones on the market