iPhone 7 launches in 30 more countries today, Apple Watch Series 2 arrives in 20+, Hermès models now available
Jordan Kahn / 9to5Mac :
Context & Ripple Effects
This is Apple's second-wave playbook running on schedule: a year ago the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus rolled out to 40 countries after their September debut, and today the iPhone 7 follows the same pattern across 30 more markets. The Apple Watch is scaling faster than its first year — after a cautious seven-country expansion in June 2015, Series 2 now lands in 20-plus countries at once.
The notable addition is Hermès: putting luxury-branded Watch models into this wave signals Apple pushing the device from gadget toward fashion accessory, using a heritage brand to open doors in markets where the Watch's first-year rollout was deliberately slow.
First-order effects
- Buyers in the 30 new iPhone 7 countries and 20-plus Series 2 countries can purchase both starting today, moving the upgrade cycle from early-adopter markets into these regions.
- Hermès gains immediate retail reach through Apple's channels, with its Watch models now available alongside the Series 2 launch rather than in a separate later window.
Second-order effects
- Local carriers and retailers in the newly opened iPhone 7 markets absorb the second-wave demand surge, while rival flagships already on sale there face a fresh high-profile competitor mid-quarter.
- Traditional watch brands in these markets now compete against a smartwatch carrying the Hermès name, which legitimizes the category where a tech-only badge had not.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple's staggered launches keep compressing — the Watch went from seven added countries in 2015 to 20-plus a year later — and hardware debuts increasingly precede full-services availability, as later seen when App Store, iCloud, Apple Music and other services expanded to dozens of new countries in a single push.
- Luxury co-branding points toward wearables splitting into a performance tier and a fashion tier, with heritage houses becoming distribution partners rather than bystanders.
The trend: Apple is tightening the gap between first- and second-wave international launches while pairing hardware expansion with luxury partnerships to widen each device's addressable market.