According to well-connected and historically accurate KGI Securities’ analyst, Ming Chi Kuo, Apple is planning two major product releases within the first-half of calendar year 2016 — the hotly anticipated 4-inch iPhone, as well as a refreshed, 9.7-inch iPad Air 3 tablet.
Saying that he expects the impending 4-inch iPhone to be met with lackluster demand — primarily in light of it’s nominal hardware specifications and stagnant, if not retroactive, form factor — Kuo noted in a memo to investors on Sunday that the device is more of a shift backwards for Apple’s R&D efforts, which recently moved on to embrace the larger 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch form factors of the iPhone 6 and 6s handsets.
Less is known, at this point, about the supposed refresh of Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad Air, the ‘iPad Air 3,’ or the company’s forthcoming ‘iPhone 7’ handset. Apple released the A8X-powered iPad Air 2 in October, 2014, and while the device featured only minor hardware upgrades, and other additions such as an 8 MP camera and Touch ID functionality, the device still wasn’t enough to slow, or even reverse, the tablet’s steeply declining sales figures.
Additionally, Kuo has little information to share about Apple’s next-generation iPhone, thought to be called ‘iPhone 7.’ However the information he has been able to confirm, thus far, sheds no light on any “surprise innovations.” In other words, the company will likely release an iPhone this September that features only evolutionary upgrades in terms of design, A-series silicon, camera resolution, and/or upgrades in battery capacity, for example.
If Apple stays true to it’s own product upgrade cycles, however, this year’s iPhone should see a revamped design. Additional rumors have so far indicated the potential omission of the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, a 256 GB storage option, that the device will be waterproof, and that it could feature wireless charging capabilities.
However, we’ll just keep our fingers crossed until further notice.
Learn More: Sources Within Apple’s Supply Chain Confirm ‘iPhone 7’ Will NOT Feature a 3.5mm Headphone Jack
What do you think about this news?
Are you planning on buying one of the ‘iPhone 5se’ handsets when it comes out?
Or do you plan on waiting for the ‘iPhone 7’?