Leading up to Apple‘s fall product launch, it’s time we all stopped putting so much emphasis on the success of the iPhone, analyst Brian White of Monness, Crespi, Hardt told CNBC on Friday.
“I think these events are becoming more about ‘Planet Apple,’ not just about iPhones,” White said Friday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”
“I think we put too much emphasis on the iPhone,” he added.
Apple stock hit new all-time highs on Thursday and again on Friday, after the technology giant announced it would host a product reveal event on Sept. 12 that is rumored to be impressive even by Apple’s standards. Analysts and news outlets are expecting upgrades to nearly every Apple product line. Reports have suggested a new line of iPhones, a new MacBook Air and updated Mac Mini, upgrades to the iPad and a new Apple Watch.
Apple closed the day up 1.16 percent at $227.63 per share.
“While it’s the time of the year that the new iPhones come out, we should get a nice iPad update, a nice Mac update and get a lot better information about what they’re doing in [augmented reality] and [virtual reality],” said White.
White, a longtime Apple bullwho called the tech company “the most underappreciated stock in the world” after it hit a market capitalization of $1 trillion earlier in August, said other products, such as the Apple Watch and even the HomePod, are becoming increasingly important to Apple’s growing services revenue.
“You get the double effect: the hardware sale, and services over time,” he said.
Veteran investor Paul Meeks told CNBC on Thursday that he worries about Apple, because bulls, such as White, base their arguments on services revenue. Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously said services revenue could climb to$50 billion by 2020, but iPhone sales were essentially flat year over year for the June quarter.
“What happens with [an iPhone sales] lag is you will have a slowdown in the services business, because they are tied at the hip,” Meeks said Thursday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”
But White argued that beyond the iPhone, other hardware and technologies will increasingly help contribute to Apple’s growing services sector.
“That’s what Apple is doing, they are planting all these different trees that will yield revenue from things like services in the future,” White said.
