Harker students and faculty expressed mixed reactions to the release of the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch on last month, emphasizing the growing competition Apple faces in today’s market.

Apple sold a record breaking 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones on the weekend following the release, according to Apple.com. Even more iPhones were sold afterwards, with releases one week later in Japan, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, and Singapore.

Apple has set the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones release date in China, the world’s largest market for smart phones, as Oct. 17, with pre-ordering beginning on Oct. 10. Forbes reports that pre-order reservations in China for the phones have already been “on fire.” Over 6 million reservations for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were tallied by the end of Oct. 4., evidence of Apple’s relevance in the technology sector worldwide.

Over the past 20 years, consumers have constantly found themselves in search of the latest technological products with sharp, sleek designs. Apple has consistently answered the bell before.

Avid Apple users, such as Economics and U.S. History teacher Damon Halback, believe that the company continues to provide direction for the technology market by designing new features rather than entirely new products.

“Apple products place a heavy emphasis on performance, usability, appearance, and simplicity, and all of their products are the leaders in the field in those categories,” Halback said. “What you see happen regarding Apple’s innovation is that there has been an increase in the facets of their products [such as] the use of retina technology in the screens.”

Other Apple customers believe that changes in product facets are insufficient in keeping Apple ahead of the technology curve. Malvika Khanna (10), who owns several Apple products, viewed Apple’s larger screen in the iPhone 6 Plus as a concession to Samsung.

“The Samsung Galaxy was the big phone, which kind of looked just like the new iPhone 6 looks, so I think they kind of copied the big screen from that,” Khanna (10) said.

Students from the Upper School expressed their views on the tug-of-war between Apple and Samsung over dominance in the smart technology business. Some believe that the Korean tech giant is on the verge of catching up to Apple.

“A lot of the competitors like Samsung are catching up with Apple quite a bit, so they [Apple] have more on their plate now in terms of faring significantly better in the market,” Venkat Sankar (11) said.

A voluntary online survey of 157 Upper School students regarding Apple products and their popularity suggested that Apple might be losing ground to competition. 38% of those polled believed that Apple is losing popularity, 28% believed that Apple was increasing in popularity, and 34% were indifferent to the company’s growth. The survey also indicated that 73% of students use iPhones and 16% use Android devices.

Apple’s newly announced Apple Watch might provide the company with an opportunity to enter a new realm of technology, with significant impact on the rest of the technology market.

“I think wearable tech has been the “next big thing” for several years, and because Apple’s finally making that move, that’s what’s going to get everyone else to transition over to it,” Vivek Sriram (12) said.

After all, with nearly 75% of Harker students using iPhones and the immense international popularity of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus releases, Apple continues to entice customers and maintain relevance in today’s technology market.