Next iPad and iPhone Due in "Middle of 2013"?

[iReality85]

Not altogether surprising. Historically (thinking back here) hasn't the iPhone launched at the end of June / early July? It's the iPhone 5 (or was it the 4S?) that really broke the cycle and that's why it seemed like such a long wait (because it was).

If Apple is getting back on course, that would indeed be the "middle of 2013." Considering that suppliers typically need a quarter to ramp up supplies, then the end of June (end of 2nd quarter, April-June) would be the launch time frame if rumor has it suppliers will be ramping up during the 1st quarter (January-March).

As for the iPad, that too is not surprising. Considering the deluge of Android and now Win8 tablets, Apple's competition will heat up. For Apple, 2013 is going to be all about keeping their market share, and that means increased release schedules for iPad.

[Leonard1818]

Originally Posted by frayne182

If they don't adapt they will slowly and slowly keep losing market share.

They have to make more product.

Originally Posted by unplugme71

Agreed. But Apple won't care. They'll get those people who couldn't upgrade to the iPhone 5 but can upgrade in 3 more months to the iPhone 5S - and so forth. Rather than the once a year cycle were if the iphone 5 was released 6 months ago and you know the iphone 5S is coming out in 6 months, you'll wait. So Apple gets a sale 6 months sooner.

The question is:

Can they really bump their release cycle without sacrificing quality?

They're already catching some heat with the iPhone 5 QC issues... Will they really be able to keep the quality the same if they go to 6-month-releases?

On top of that, they're spec increases between models seem to be getting more and more minor. How are they going to switch to a 6-month-cycle and still continue "upgrading" the devices?

Finally, don't the major releases typically correspond to an iOS upgrade? Will they be able to pump out iOS upgrades (again, that include major feature advances) on a shortened cycle?

I'm not convinced that Apple is losing market share due to only releasing one device per year. In other words, I don't know if this rumored move is going to help.

[Tiger8]

Looks like a new iPad will be released every 6 months or so, I wonder though if the iPhone will now have a release every 9 months or so?

[HelveticaRoman]

Enough already with this constant innovation!

[Rocketman]

Back to the original schedule after the Verizon and LTE introductions.

[jarnold]

Originally Posted by AJH1993

Really dislike how Apple releases new stuff in 1 year or in a half year. Because they know people have the "I need the latest and greatest" mindset.

Except every other company does this. Some even on a greater scale. You guys complain when they don't update fast enough then you complain when they do update and keep up with technology. Make up your damn mind

[nicegoogly]

I always felt that Apple had such loyalty to their customers as we did them. We paid much more for the OS to get a very cool laptops that, spec wise, would have been 1/3 the price if it were windows. I switched back to Apple in 2007, paying the premium price for that fantastic OS and never looked back. The upgrades that came, not incredibly often, were usually spec bumps and you could live with it.

The iphone was pretty regular (although the 3GS was very eh, the internals did make a difference when navigating iOS 3.0). The iPad I thought was going that route, too.

The 4S, really using Siri to push a spec bump when it could have run on the 4 was lame. I was disappointed and for the first time, did not feel a need to line up for a device.

I had bought every generation of the iPad up until this iPad 4/3S. I bought it in April, and in October a updated "twice as fast" one comes out. That was really telling. They had never done that before. Wait a year and hit me with a mediocre spec bump, maybe I will still bite. Millions usually do. Six months? Now that is just nuts.

Please understand, I am not complaining that they are trying to make money, but why do they want to put themselves in the same boat as Microsoft and the hugely fragmented Android market? Why have crazy nonsense like the Sony upgrade policy? I had many Sony Palm Pilots, their life cycle, not kidding, was 2-6 months before the "S" model would come out.

I felt with Apple, this company respected us in the way that we would not feel cheated out of an upgrade. I don't know if this article will turn out to be true, but I can't help but feel that way. I used to think I had a great relationship with Apple. She is a high maintenance expensive dame, but I felt loved. Now I feel used.

[maplingstorie]

what?? the ip 5 hasn't arrived in my country yet!! oh well, i couldn't wait any longer, so i went ahead with Samsung Galaxy Note 2. All I can say is, thanks Apple for making me change my mind. I'm now an android lover. (used to hate android and adore iOS).

[KamuiVII]

Originally Posted by jarnold

Except every other company does this. Some even on a greater scale. You guys complain when they don't update fast enough then you complain when they do update and keep up with technology. Make up your damn mind

agreed... does anyone remember Nokia did this back in the day, first it was the like 5000 series then the 5100, then the 5150, 5200 etc...

[cmichaelb]

One negative, if this were to be true, is that is not much time for Ive and his team to rework the UI for iOS 7.

I bet we have to wait until fall again.

[Junkyman]

Originally Posted by nicegoogly

I always felt that Apple had such loyalty to their customers as we did them. We paid much more for the OS to get a very cool laptops that, spec wise, would have been 1/3 the price if it were windows. I switched back to Apple in 2007, paying the premium price for that fantastic OS and never looked back. The upgrades that came, not incredibly often, were usually spec bumps and you could live with it.

The iphone was pretty regular (although the 3GS was very eh, the internals did make a difference when navigating iOS 3.0). The iPad I thought was going that route, too.

The 4S, really using Siri to push a spec bump when it could have run on the 4 was lame. I was disappointed and for the first time, did not feel a need to line up for a device.

I had bought every generation of the iPad up until this iPad 4/3S. I bought it in April, and in October a updated "twice as fast" one comes out. That was really telling. They had never done that before. Wait a year and hit me with a mediocre spec bump, maybe I will still bite. Millions usually do. Six months? Now that is just nuts.

Please understand, I am not complaining that they are trying to make money, but why do they want to put themselves in the same boat as Microsoft and the hugely fragmented Android market? Why have crazy nonsense like the Sony upgrade policy? I had many Sony Palm Pilots, their life cycle, not kidding, was 2-6 months before the "S" model would come out.

I felt with Apple, this company respected us in the way that we would not feel cheated out of an upgrade. I don't know if this article will turn out to be true, but I can't help but feel that way. I used to think I had a great relationship with Apple. She is a high maintenance expensive dame, but I felt loved. Now I feel used.

Amen. Absolutely agreed.

[SamGabbay]

Half a year later

Tim "Goodmorning."
Tim "Goodmorning..."
Tim "Goodmorning....."
Tim "Goodmorning!"

Phil "Introducing iPhone 5S, our fastest most powerful iPhone yet"

[gto55]

Followed by an iPad Mini Retina ?

[macbook123]

Wonder if they'll finally come around and make the iPhone have a reasonable screen size and make AT&T and Verizon allow tethering. Otherwise this thing is DOA.

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Originally Posted by iGrip

So what's Apple up to here? Are they going to try to keep up with the latest hardware advancements by introducing new stuff twice as fast?

No this is just the mask for the underlying problem. Apple needs a new "next big thing". Looking back at the pace of prior "next big thing" releases, they needed to launch one this year (in 2012) to maintain the accelerating pace of those rollouts. By "next big thing" I don't mean a new version of an existing product but something that would be seen a version 1 of a brand new innovative offering.

Because Apple is under pressure to keep the growth slope steep, they are launching in more and more countries on day 1. They used to launch in the U.S. and then gradually roll out to the rest of the world. However, over the last few years, they've launched to more and more countries on day 1 and rolled out to many more (sooner than what they used to do in the past) quickly. Why? Because they need to book those revenues of old "next big things" faster and faster to maintain that revenue growth slope. Why? Because they haven't launched a new "next big thing" since iPad launched to be fresh (entirely new product) fuel for propping up that slope.

So, in booking sales of old "next big things" (updates) faster and faster, they need to roll out new versions of the existing legs of the table faster and faster. Else, the revenue growth slope will roll over and then the stock will really feel the pain.

What Apple needs is a new big innovation (a brand new leg of the table). And based on the past big innovations, they need a whopper in early 2013 and maybe 2 more whoppers in 2014. Riding one "next big thing" for 2-4 years (of updates) doesn't work as well as the revenue numbers get bigger and bigger. Eventually, iterations of old "next big things" will need to launch to all markets everywhere at the same time to generate a quarter's revenue targets. And, if you do that, you'll need something else for the global market to buy in the next quarter to try to meet its target.

We can rationalize it as "keeping up with competition" and all of that other stuff but if you can look at the situation objectively and you look to past companies that had revenue growth slopes like Apple, the story is always the same. Even supporting clues are right in our faces:

• remember how Apple events used to focus on products that were pretty much ready to launch. Now, we see more and more stuff that seems to be reaching forward in the pipeline to tout now and launch later (even missing target launch dates)
• Remember how launches were usually fully-baked products. Now we seem to be getting some stuff that might be called "mature beta" at best.
• Etc.

All of which might be viewed as signs that the demands per the growth slope are challenging Apple to try to keep up. Without having big things ready to launch now, they are instead pressured to pull back the curtain more than in the past and show us some stuff that might be 80%+ ready. If I was guessing why so much money has fled the stock lately, it's because the "smart money" has seen this movie many times before.

Solution: a genuine, must-have "next big thing" rollout in the first quarter 2013 on par with the "shut up and take my money" fever of iPod, iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that the rumored television product might be "it" but that seems to be the only working rumor of something that would seem to be a genuine new leg of the table. I think Apple could reinforce the slope with just one "next big thing" in 2013 but they will likely need 2 in 2014 to keep it going. Can you imagine 3 new big innovations on par with iPod/iTunes 1, iPhone 1 and iPad 1 over the next 25 months? I hope Apple has.

[blacktape242]

by then the Iphone 5 will be in stock at apple stores everywhere
and online orders will ship in 1-3 days

[donnie3000]

The iPhone 5 and latest iPads only work at 4G LTE speeds on two/three of the large mobile networks in the UK.

The O2 and Vodafone 4G networks are due to launch in the middle of next year (around May/June I seem to recall). However, these new 4G networks are at frequencies other than those accommodated by the iPhone 5/new iPads' 4G chips. This means that the current generation iPhones and iPads will never work on these O2 and Vodafone 4G networks.

As such, I was fully expecting at least a modest update to the current models to expand the bandwidths utilised by the 4G chips (to allow O2 and Vodafone) to offer 4G services to Apple devices. If these supposed new iPhones/iPads are proper upgrades or just CDMA-type 'horizontal' updates remains to be seen.

This seems to be supported by the fact that O2 are offering a '4G promise'. Their website states that:

'Customers who buy an iPhone 5 from O2 between September and 31st March 2013 can upgrade during their contract to get their hands on a new phone any time they want.'

Whilst there is no mention of a new iPhone, it would certainly make sense....

Are there any similar issues with frequency bands in countries other than UK?

[Popeye206]

Originally Posted by AJH1993

Really dislike how Apple releases new stuff in 1 year or in a half year. Because they know people have the "I need the latest and greatest" mindset.

I guess they should have just stuck with the iPhone 1 and never did an update??? The logic in your statement makes no sense.

Updates are a fact of life with technology. I'm just glad that I can upgrade when I want and know that what I'm buying will keep working until I'm ready to upgrade again. Plus, when I do upgrade, I won't loose anything I had before.

[NinjaHERO]

Didn't we just have a story claiming the ramp up production for the next iphone was to give them a surplus when they launch in September?

Eh, the fun of rumors I guess. We'll see the new phone when we see it.

[mike423]

The things happening with Apple lately wouldnt surprise me if they launch ipad 5 and iphone 6 by the end of next year.

The world lost Steve and Apple lost the world.

[tom53092]

A new iPad mini with a GPS chip would be awesome. The smaller size would be a natural for mounting on the dash or slipping into the map pocket. The lack of GPS is the only thing keeping me from buying one today.

[ftaok]

Originally Posted by JGRE

Correct, I still have a 4 and it works fine for me. I am not going to pay hunderds of dollars just to have the latest gadget.

Assuming that you're in the US and you are on one of the standard carriers on a typical plan ... it makes no sense to not be under a contract.* You're still paying the same monthly rate whether or not you're under contract.

At the very least, upgrade to a new 4S for $0, get the upgrade fee waived and you'll have a spare iPhone to keep.

* - doesn't apply if you're on some weird plan or are looking to jump from your current provider.

[The Bulge]

Upgradegate?

[michial]

I just bought an iphone five last week and still think it's a great idea. Apple will be more relevant and stay on top of tech like its competitors. Plus we will have more options and older(6 month that is) will more than likely be offered at discount or promo deals with carriers. I hope they do two a year!

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Originally Posted by tom53092

A new iPad mini with a GPS chip would be awesome. The smaller size would be a natural for mounting on the dash or slipping into the map pocket. The lack of GPS is the only thing keeping me from buying one today.

Ummm, iPad Mini has GPS today. It's in all of the units equipped with LTE. Pick any one and GPS is part of the added hardware to make it also work with cellular options on demand.