Analysts Nonplussed About Apple’s Big Event Today

Apple, the consumer electronics giant, is looking to go small.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Monday (March 21) is the day that the company will unveil the latest iteration of the relatively smaller iPhone at an event slated, and the phone itself, which will follow the iPhone 5s, will have among its features: speedier processors and upgraded cameras. The phone will also allow users to deploy Apple Pay, the mobile payments offering. The roadmap, WSJ said, comes courtesy of unnamed sources “familiar with the matter.” This would be the first upgrade of the smallest versions of the iPhone in three years.

There may indeed be a market for the smaller devices. As WSJ reported, a Dec. 2015 survey of more than 1,000 respondents, conducted by sell-side firm Piper Jaffray, said that 20 percent of consumers in the United States preferred four-inch screens over larger configurations. That might help lift sales beyond the traditional summer doldrums and ahead of fall 2016 releases of new phones.

No pricing details are available yet.

Separately, it is expected that Apple will announce an update to the iPad and its 9.7-inch screen, with some additional details to include better processing capability. There may also be an update to the recent legal jousting with the U.S. Justice Department over privacy of phone data tied to the San Bernardino, California terror attacks.

But, as Fortune reported on Friday (March 18), all of this may not be enough to make Apple investors swoon. In a preview of the event, Oppenheimer Analyst Andrew Uerkwitz wrote: “We worry investors will find the next several Apple media events underwhelming … While we expect to see several ‘under-the-hood’ improvements across devices, we are not expecting the same exuberance as last year when Apple shared final details of the Apple Watch.”

Looking ahead, the analyst said, among other projections, 360 video and depth sensing may be among near-term features to help buoy iPhone camera features, and Siri, the assistant feature embedded in the phones, should see wider deployment.