A new report has surfaced online, suggesting that Apple Inc. has a smaller 4-inch iPhone 6C handset – or iPhone Mini- under the works, with a release date scheduled for sometime during early 2016.
KGI Securities analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, has published a research report regarding Apple’s plans for the forthcoming iPhone 7, as well as a potential addition to the existing iPhone 6S series. Kuo assumes that the company has already been developing a new iPhone set to be launched in early 2016, that will belong to the 4-inch form factor and will feature the looks of an “upgraded iPhone 5S”, fitted with the company’s much-touted A9 chip.
Kuo’s statement was the following:
“As there is still demand for a 4-inch iPhone, we believe Apple will upgrade this product line. Because the iPhone 5s is more popular than the iPhone 5c, we think Apple is likely to launch an upgraded iPhone 5s. We predict Apple will mass-produce this new 4-inch iPhone in 1H16 with metal casings. In order to make the current iOS 9 or next-generation iOS 10 run smoothly, Apple may adopt an A9 chip for this new phone.”
Despite rocking Apple’s premium processor, the A9, Kuo is quite confident that the 4-inch iPhone won’t sport the new fancy 3D Touch feature, thus distinguishing it from the flagships that are the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The smartphone could be considered as a new iPhone 5C -iPhone 6C in this occasion-. which, in case you cannot recall, was a cheaper variant of the iPhone 5S device.
As aforementioned, the KGI Securities analysts is betting his money on a release sometime during the first couple of months of 2016, while he also expects that the Cupertino will ship 20 to 30 million units of the handset until the end of the said year. If this new edition of the 2015 iPhone turns out to be real, then we assume that Apple is making efforts to target a wider spectrum of consumers when it comes to screen sizes.
Circling back to the much-anticipated iPhone 7, Kuo estimates that the new series will ostensibly come with Apple’s A10 processor. Though, there is the potential of witnessing a major performance difference between the iPhone 7 Plus (5.5-inch display) and the iPhone 7 (4.7-inch display), as the former will be fitted with 3GB of RAM while the latter with 2GB.
If implemented, then this tactic would share a striking resemblance with LG’s G3 flagship smartphones, where the 16GB version rocked 2GB of memory whilst the 32GB one 3GB of RAM. The only change in Apple’s case is that the two handsets differ in terms of screen size and not internal storage capacity.
As far as manufacturing procedures go, Kuo projects that Foxconn will be the sole maker of the purported 4-inch iPhone, while TSMC will be exclusively the one to provide the respective A9 chip and the A10 for next year’s iPhone 7.
Source: Ming-Chi Kuo, KGI Securities
