How Does Apple Keep People Excited About Every New iPhone?

Written by Stephanie Sicilia | Director, Praxis

Every time Apple launches a new iPhone, I find myself asking the same question: how do they keep doing it?

Having spent more than a decade working in the smartphone industry, including my years at Xiaomi, I’ve seen firsthand just how competitive and exhausting this business can be.

People see the launch events, media coverage, product reviews, and campaigns. What they don’t always see is how much planning happens before any of that goes live.

We would spend weeks preparing for each launch. What exactly were we trying to communicate? Who should we be talking to? Which messages would resonate with which audiences? Which channels and customer touchpoints should carry those messages? And how would we sustain the conversation before, during, and after launch?

Now, here’s the part that makes me laugh looking back.

Apple has one major flagship iPhone launch cycle each year. Back in my Xiaomi days, we were launching new smartphones practically every other month. Sometimes we’d barely finished one launch before we were already preparing for the next.

Can you imagine the amount of planning and coordination involved?

Every launch needed a reason for consumers to pay attention, particularly in a market where everyone was competing on cameras, performance, battery life, design, and price.

Then there’s Apple.

A new iPhone is announced, perhaps with a new colour or a few upgrades, and the excitement starts all over again. Rumours become headlines, consumers debate whether to upgrade, and the conversation begins long before the phones arrive in stores.

And this year, the iPhone 18 Pro Max 2TB carries a price tag of Rp58,999,000 in Indonesia.

Almost Rp60 million. For a smartphone.

Of course, that’s the highest-end configuration, and probably not what the average iPhone buyer would spend. But the fact that Apple can command such a price while continuing to generate excitement around its launches is fascinating to me.

Are We Still Buying a Phone, or Something Else?

Apple makes excellent products, but so do many other manufacturers. Some offer better specifications in certain areas, often at considerably lower prices.

So why are people willing to pay such a premium?

Part of it is the ecosystem, product experience, and familiarity. But I think there’s also something less tangible.

For some consumers, it’s about trust, familiarity and confidence in the Apple ecosystem. For others, owning an iPhone is also a status symbol. And for some loyal customers, upgrading to the latest model has almost become a habit.

Apple has managed to build a position where buying an iPhone isn’t necessarily just about comparing specifications. It’s also about what consumers associate with the brand.

And that’s difficult to compete with through product features alone.

Does Apple Still Need PR?

This is what I’ve always wondered as a communications professional.

For most smartphone brands, considerable effort goes into earning attention. Planning the story, engaging journalists and reviewers, coordinating influencers, and making sure the product doesn’t disappear among competing launches.

Apple starts from a different position. People are already anticipating its announcements. Media outlets and content creators discuss upcoming features long before the official reveal.

Does that make Apple’s PR job easier?

In terms of getting attention, probably. But maintaining that level of expectation comes with its own challenges.

Every new iPhone is scrutinised. Every perceived shortcoming becomes a discussion, particularly when competitors offer compelling alternatives at lower prices.

Apple still has to communicate why its products matter and why consumers should continue paying a premium.

So perhaps the challenge isn’t simply getting people to notice the brand anymore. It’s maintaining the trust and desirability that make people want its products in the first place.

What Can Other Brands Learn?

I don’t think every brand should try to replicate Apple. Its position today is the result of decades of product development, marketing, communications, customer experience, and consistent brand-building.

But there’s something worth considering for those of us working in PR.

We spend so much time measuring the immediate results of a campaign. How many articles did we secure? How much conversation did we generate? Did we meet our coverage targets?

These things matter, but a successful launch and a strong brand aren’t necessarily the same thing.

A product can dominate the headlines for a week and be forgotten when the next competitor launches something new. I’ve seen how quickly that cycle moves.

And this isn’t exclusive to smartphones. The same challenge exists across automotive, financial services, consumer goods, and other competitive industries.

Beyond communicating what makes a product different today, we should also be thinking about what each campaign contributes to the brand over time.

Because the next launch shouldn’t always feel like we’re starting from zero.

After more than a decade in smartphones, I still find Apple’s ability to generate anticipation remarkable. Not because it always makes the best phone, but because so many consumers are already interested in what comes next.

And it leaves me with a question for our own industry:

are we simply helping brands get attention for their next launch, or are we building a reputation that will make people care about the next one?