that we're all waiting for may not actually arrive in October. That's according to Greek site DigitalLife who is reporting that the only Apple.
Despite numerous rumors to the contrary, Apple will only launch one
iPhone model this fall and it will be a modest upgrade that closely
resembles the current iPhone 4. In a note to investors on Wednesday,
Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair says that Apple will hold a special
event between September 28th and October 5th to unveil several new
devices. Only one of those devices will be an iPhone, however, and Blair
says it will be an incremental update as opposed to
the redesigned iPhone 5 that has been rumored on multiple occasions. Read on for more.
“We expect the focus of the new iPhone will be iOS 5, a speedier A5
processor and a higher resolution 8 MP camera with a small possibility
of a larger 4 inch screen,” Blair wrote. “We believe the casing will be
largely similar to the iPhone with some particular modifications to the
antennae [sic]. We don’t expect a second, dramatically different iPhone
to accompany this as we don’t think Apple needs to have 3 models in the
market to address the high end, mid-tier and low end since the iPhone 4
(with memory lowered to 8 GB) will drop to $99 and effectively attack
those markets.”
The analyst believes that in spite of the anticipation generated over
the past few months by the possibility of a redesigned iPhone 5,
launching two new models wouldn’t make sense for Apple. “Why would Apple
bump
up only the processor specs of the iPhone 4 in addition
to a newly designed iPhone 5 if the goal is to sell it into the pre-paid
market at a lower cost?” Blair wondered in his note. “A 4S would simply
cost more and a 4S itself wouldn’t create a mid-tier market unless it
was priced at $99 and the iPhone 4 went to $49 with the new iPhone at
$199. We see this scenario as unlikely.”
But Wedge Partners does expect another device to be unveiled at
Apple’s upcoming event: a 3G-enabled iPod touch. Blair says the iPod’s
cellular data option will work just like the iPad, allowing users to
purchase data plans on a month-to-month basis with no contractual
obligations. The notion of a 3G iPod touch aligns with
earlier rumors.
Blair’s iPhone estimates remain at 24-25 million units shipped in
Apple’s September quarter, and he sees shipments growing to 27 million
units in the December quarter. Calendar-year totals will come in at 91
million units according to the analyst’s estimates, which would
represent growth of 92% compared to 2010 and will include sales by
new carrier partner Sprint,
which he expects to sell 4.5 million iPhones over the next year. Blair
thinks Apple will begin accepting pre-orders for its next-generation
iPhone within days of holding its media event, which will
take place on October 4th according to a recent report.
