Dive Brief:

• Angela Ahrendts is decidedly making her mark on Apple since her arrival last year as the company’s retail chief, boosting morale after collecting feedback from store employees and curating high-end products.

• Among such products is the French-made wireless speaker, the Phantom, which sports chic design and superior sound quality and price tags starting at $1,990. Unlike other high-end peripherals, the Phantom will be sold in some Apple stores and not just online.

• She has also had her team clean up stores a bit, dropping many peripheral items that don’t pass muster, seeking unique packaging from companies selling items in Apple stores, and finding ways to streamline customer service.

Dive Insight:

Ahrendts’ longtime experience at fashion house Burberry likely gives her a luxe approach, and Apple stores may increasingly be positioned to appeal to  customers who can afford to pay for design and performance.

In some ways, Ahrendts approach is an intensifying of Apple’s already more upscale attitude.

The company’s products are already expensive compared to that of its competitors and its new watch is in many ways especially geared to luxury shoppers (at least its more upscale versions). And Steve Jobs’s design philosophy has been top of mind in the company for years.

Jobs had enormous respect for craft and wanted intuitive usability for every corner or aspect of a product. That means that Apple products sport elements, like finish, feel, shape, placement, line — and more — that seem thought out to the last detail. It reflects an extreme level of care in design and attention to the consumer that is usually found only in luxury products. 

Most Apple products (except for those $10,000 gold Apple Watch special editions) are essentially mass market items, though, thanks to that philosophy, they have the look and feel of a luxury item — and the same luxury customers shopping for upscale goods are probably texting each other on iPhones.

Ahrendts is making sure they also see something chic, top-notch—and expensive—that they may want to also buy while in stores.