Apple Inc. shares rose 0.5% in premarket trading Thursday, after an analyst suggested that the latest iPhone technology will drive a multi-year wave of device upgrades. Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson wrote Thursday that Apple could come out with slightly enhanced version of the iPhone X next fall, including a larger-screen option, and cut the price of the original model that was released in early November. The combination of these factors could drive a “super-long cycle” of upgrades, beyond the single-year “super-cycle” investors were hoping for. “We believe an elongated iPhone cycle in FY18, followed by a wider array of iPhone X ‘offspring’ in Fall 2018, along with growing awareness and interest in augmented reality (fueled by developers populating the App Store with new use cases and, longer-term, addition of rear facing 3D sensor), will all push out the need for Apple to answer the question of ‘what’s next?'” Olson wrote. With overall global smartphone sales expanding slowly, Apple has been under some pressure to find new avenues for growth. Apple’s stock is up 46% so far in 2017, compared with a 21% rise for the Dow Jones Industrial Average .
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