Apple is laying the groundwork for future wearables with new Iphone

Apple Inc’s new high-end iPhone is made to be compatible of future products that would soon be released in store from the world’s most-valuable company.

A new motion-sensor chip inside the iPhone 5s suggests the appearance of wearable-computing products, while a fingerprint sensor opens more opportunities to make the smartphone a tool for making purchases at stores, according to technology analysts who study Apple. Another new processor chip in the device may give the company the chance to switch its Mac computers away from Intel Corp. chips.

Apple’s entry into new markets may develop mobile-payments and wearable-computing businesses. Nike Inc., Fitbit Inc. and Jawbone have introduced wristband health-tracking devices, while Square Inc. and EBay Inc.s PayPal have been developing payment networks for phones.

At the event introducing the iPhone 5s, Apple highlighted the new M7 chip for health and fitness applications. The chip, which is more battery-efficient than the handset’s other main processors, tracks movement through an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass, said Apple’s marketing chief Phil Schiller. It works in parallel to the other processors that power graphics and other core functions of the handset.

While the technology is intended to improve iPhone fitness applications, the chip will probably be incorporated into a new iWatch device from Apple, said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrest Research who has studied trends in wearable computing. It can crunch data being generated by the wearable device, she said.

“Whether Apple launches an iWatch or another type of wearable device, the new chip will make that device much more powerful and make the experience of using it more seamless,” she said.

In payments, the iPhone 5s fingerprint sensor is ideal for the security needed when making a purchase, said Greg Sterling, an analyst at market-research firm Opus Research. Apple has more than 435 million credit-card numbers on file through iTunes, which could be leveraged for a system in which an iPhone could be used as a new digital credit card, he said.

“There’s a wide range of possibilities for Apple around payments,” Sterling said. “Because they have so many credit cards on file, that’s a ripe fruit waiting to be picked.”

Another new chip that Apple announced last week, the A7, has powerful capabilitiesenough to be used in tablets and computers. That could spell bad news for Intel, which currently provides chips for Apple’s Mac line, Bajarin said.

“Even though it is only in the iPhone now, it clearly has potential to go into their tablets and even their PCs,” said Bajarin, who studies the semiconductor business. He added that the A7 chip can go into a future Apple television product for more powerful applications like video games.

Despite recent downgrades from financial institutions such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and UBS, due to the higher priced 5c model, Apples innovative run continues as it is targeting mobile shopping and mobile health-checking wearables.