In an ambitious blitz of new products, Apple Inc. unveiled a pair of larger-screen iPhones, an Internet-connected watch and a new payment system that allows users to make store purchases with a smart device.
By revealing new hardware products together with service offerings, Apple is trying to show how it can create experiences that can’t easily be replicated by competitors.
The Apple Watch represents the company’s first new product in more than four years.
CEO Tim Cook called the watch the most-personal device that Apple has created. The device allows new ways for users to communicate from their wrists, the company said, and includes sensors that can detect a pulse, count steps and suggest fitness goals.
The new iPhones, meanwhile, will have 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays, larger than its current 4-inch screen. Apple said it expects the new phones — to be called iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus — to go on sale Sept. 19.
The company also unveiled “Apple Pay,” a new digital-payments service that will allow consumers to make purchases using just their phones or watches, marking the company’s first big push into brick-and-mortar payments.
The company said it is using a technology known as near-field communication, or NFC, which works by transmitting a radio signal between the device and a receiver — when the two are fractions of an inch apart or touching.
Mobile payments, in general, have failed to take hold despite attempts from the likes of eBay Inc., Google Inc., wireless companies and a host of buzzy startups. Not many physical stores yet accept mobile payments or stored credit cards on smartphones, known as digital wallets, meaning consumers are still carrying the plastic versions.
The most noticeable upgrade for the phones is the larger displays. The feature is especially popular in China and other emerging markets where the smartphone is replacing the PC as the primary computing device.
Phones with screens larger than 5 inches accounted for nearly 40 percent of global smartphone shipments in the second quarter, up from 21 percent a year earlier, according to market researcher Canalys.
