'Hi, Speed': iPhone 12 reactions from the #AppleEvent [social media analysis]

With the announcement made on Tuesday, 13 October 2020, reactions to the new device, and some of its capabilities, have taken social media by digital storm as the world officially says "Hi, Speed" to Apple’s next generation of smartphones.

Global media intelligence company, Meltwater, tracked and analysed social media mentions around the second installment of the 2020 #AppleEvent to uncover how good news does, indeed, travel fast.

#AppleEvent global mentions

On Tuesday, 15 September 2020 (the actual day of the ‘#AppleEvent’), the hashtag received over 74,000 social media mentions and had a social media reach of just over 1 billion people worldwide, indicating the global high interest in what Apple were launching among online users.

This time, on Tuesday, 13 October 2020, the ‘#AppleEvent’ hashtag was mentioned over 700,000 times on social media and reached double the number of online users on social media (3.96 billion people), with the hashtag first reaching 3.29 billion people online on Thursday, 8 October 2020, following Apple’s tweet the day before and sparking possible iPhone 12 rumours.

Global Social Volume (blue) vs Social Reach (green) on ‘#AppleEvent’ between 1 October and 15 October 2020

As the event was yet again live-streamed from the United States of America, social media mentions from American users naturally dominated much of the online conversations surrounding the ‘#AppleEvent’. Engagement on the hashtag from online users also came from India and Japan, who rounded up the top three countries, respectively, mentioning the hashtag the most.

The data indicates that interest from Indian online users was centred around Apple’s decision to remove chargers for the iPhone 12 when purchased, which Indian online users have predominantly mixed feelings about and question why Apple made this decision. In Japan, the data indicates that interest from Japanese online users centred around the new 5G capabilities of the iPhone, as well as the ‘Touch ID’ functionality and how the iPhone 12 design resembles the iPhone 5 model. The sentiment analysis on ‘#AppleEvent’ in Japan indicates that online users feel positive about the new technical features and high speed features on the iPhone 12.

Global Heat Map of Social Media Mentions on ‘#AppleEvent’ between 1 October and 15 October 2020

Saying ‘Hi, Speed’ to the new iPhone 12

Given that the iPhone 12 was not announced in last month’s ‘#AppleEvent’, anticipation was at an all-time high as expectations were for the October ‘#AppleEvent’ and unveiling the new iPhone models.

With expectations having been met, and online users finally getting to see the next generation on iPhones from Apple, ‘#AppleEvent’ had a global total media exposure of more than 700,000 social media mentions, compared to media exposure that the hashtag received last month (151,000).

While ‘iPhone 12’ also received 172,000 global social media mentions during last month’s ‘#AppleEvent’, this October, ‘iPhone 12’ received 457,000 global social media mentions, indicating that indeed, ‘give the people what they want’ held true for this event and the unveiling of the latest iPhone range.

Global Media Exposure for ‘iPhone 12’ at the October 2020 ‘#AppleEvent’ (blue) vs Global Media Exposure for ‘iPhone 12’ at the September 2020 ‘#AppleEvent’ (green)

Much like last month’s ‘#AppleEvent’, ‘iPhone 12’ received more social media mentions on Tuesday, 13 October 2020, than the ‘#AppleEvent’ hashtag. The data indicates the high global interest in the iPhone, especially as it did not make an appearance at last month’s ‘#AppleEvent’.

Despite the much-anticipated wait now finally over when it comes to the ‘iPhone 12’, many online users have mixed feelings about the latest models. While much of the negative feelings about the ‘iPhone 12’ are due to Apple no longer providing earphones chargers to these new models, online users have not quite settled on how to feel about the ‘environmentally friendly’ decision.

Other online users have shared how they would rather keep their current iPhone models instead of upgrading to the newer models which won’t provide chargers. For those who feel good about the new iPhone models, their positive feelings are geared towards the introduction of the new ‘HomePod Mini’, the new ‘MagSafe’ feature and the iconic Pacific Blue colour that the iPhone 12 now comes in.

Global Sentiment Analysis on ‘iPhone 12’ between 1 October and 15 October 2020

Some of the trending themes to have emerged from ‘iPhone 12’ at the October ‘#AppleEvent’ include:

• ‘nuevo iphone’ (‘new iPhone’) and ‘emissão de carbono’ (carbon emission) which refers to the release of the latest iPhone models and the steps that have been taken to reduce carbon emissions associated with the phone.
  
• ‘remix’ and ‘same iPhone’ which refers to online users viewing the new iPhone 12 as very similar to the iPhone 5 in terms of design.
  
• ‘voice’ and ‘Siri capabilities’ which refers to the ‘Homepod’ smart speaker which is powered by the Siri smart assistant.

Now that the iPhone 12 is finally here, social media has certainly shared their fair share of reactions and feelings towards the brand that gets them to “Think Different.” What Apple, however, has shown is that good news does, indeed, travel fast.

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Source: Data gathered by Meltwater between 1 October and 15 October 2020.