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Analyst Says iPhone 5S and Cheaper iPhone Coming in August/September With China Mobile Support

Luis Ortega said:
The whole idea of a cheaper phone seems anathema to apple's image as a premium brand. They could get away with offering a size range, but a cheaper, crappier phone sounds like capitulation and would finally bury the influence of Steve Jobs and lead apple back to mediocrity.
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I believe that is why Phil said basically the same thing.
 
Wil there be a 5s?

Has apple become this predictable and this borning to release a single flagship phone (only phone) once every two years, spec up the insides and call it an S?

S is starting to feel like SUCKER
 
Luis Ortega said:
The whole idea of a cheaper phone seems anathema to apple's image as a premium brand. They could get away with offering a size range, but a cheaper, crappier phone sounds like capitulation and would finally bury the influence of Steve Jobs and lead apple back to mediocrity.
Click to expand...

Or it could go the way they hope and help them gain 30+% market share in India and China.

The goal is to stop people buying the competitor product. You have to have a low cost option to counter the tide of Samsung et al.
 
Sedrick said:
I agree 100%. They can't keep the same flat/square/slab shape and go larger. It'd be terrible to hold and to pocket. The new HTC figured this out with a nice rounded back.
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That's what I'm talkin' about!

I agree completely. A modern flagship phone should not be flat, but instead should be curved so as to fit/feel good in the hand.

Jony? You there son?
 
Mike MA said:
When did this "an analyst says..." crap came up actually?
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It all derives from these kind of people having their butts in a dark place, hence "anal"
Then after a while (and with relief) they had to "release" what they found in their research in there (BS) and wanted people to listen (short: LIST)

As good as other origins in my book.
 
Luis Ortega said:
The whole idea of a cheaper phone seems anathema to apple's image as a premium brand. They could get away with offering a size range, but a cheaper, crappier phone sounds like capitulation and would finally bury the influence of Steve Jobs and lead apple back to mediocrity.
Click to expand...

I don't think the lower cost iPhone will be CHEAP, at all. I think it will be a mid-market phone with decent specs (Think Nexus 4 vs Galaxy S4) and probably a pricetag of $399 unsubsidized, free with contract
 
Tiger8 said:
Has apple become this predictable and this borning to release a single flagship phone (only phone) once every two years, spec up the insides and call it an S?

S is starting to feel like SUCKER
Click to expand...

Naw. The S versions are the good ones. The suckers buy the originals of each series.
 
Luis Ortega said:
The whole idea of a cheaper phone seems anathema to apple's image as a premium brand. They could get away with offering a size range, but a cheaper, crappier phone sounds like capitulation and would finally bury the influence of Steve Jobs and lead apple back to mediocrity.
Click to expand...
One way around this is for Apple to subsidize iOS to a single company. (Similar to what they did with AT&T).

Complete control, no accountability for quality and a "springboard" to real iPhones. The problem is I'm not sure iOS has that much appeal all by itself these days. :eek:
 
Apple has the data from the release of the lower priced iPad Mini to help guage. But mainly it might be smart to stretch the product release frequency in China to only small feature bumps for at least two years at a time. This way if they slightly overproduce, they have time to sell off the inventory as China becomes accustomed to the brand, ecosystem, and personal benefits of the product.

The iPhone 3GS had a shockingly long product life. It works.

Good luck achieving overproduction in an environment of initial insatiable demand.

Rocketman
 
vazquez1085 said:
I completely agree..I always wait for the "s" model only because I know Im getting a more polished device
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I got to use the Retina iPhone 4 a whole year before you got it.

I get lightening speed LTE service and an even more beautiful display on my iPhone5 while you have to wait.

I would never trade the 'non-S' cycle for the 'S' cycle.
 
Bigger screen, wider screen, smaller screen, these are a few of my favorite things......
 
charlituna said:
Define 'new'. Some folks say its only new when they redesign it

Also we don't KNOW, regardless of design, that they are. It isn't fact until the announcement. Rather like how we knew the iPhone 4S would be in early summer just like the four before it. Until it wasn't
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New as in the internals won't be the same as the iPhone 5; I'm not referring to new as a complete redesign and bigger screen.
 
iRun26.2 said:
I got to use the Retina iPhone 4 a whole year before you got it.

I get lightening speed LTE service and an even more beautiful display on my iPhone5 while you have to wait.

I would never trade the 'non-S' cycle for the 'S' cycle.
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AND then you have to wait a year to get all the features the S devices have that yours doesn't.
 
iGrip said:
Apple really boxes themselves in (pun fully intended) with the shape of the iPhone.

It reminds me of the old DEVO song:

If Apple were to adopt a more sinuous shape that felt nicer in the hand, then variations and improvements to the form factor would be easy. But so long as they stick to the "squared-off, eight corners, 90-degree angle" aesthetic of the i4 and the i5, there's nowhere to go.
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This is totally true. If Apple took the time to just ****** all over their design one year, they would have tons of massive improvements they could make in the following years!

In case you haven't spent much time with it yet, in my opinion the beveled edges combined with the thinness of the iPhone 5 make it the most comfortable cell phone I've held.
 
iRun26.2 said:
I got to use the Retina iPhone 4 a whole year before you got it.

I get lightening speed LTE service and an even more beautiful display on my iPhone5 while you have to wait.

I would never trade the 'non-S' cycle for the 'S' cycle.
Click to expand...
I agree with both of you.

Truth is, the next iteration is never worthwhile. If you upgrade periodically, wait for i+2 in stead of i+1, regardless if i is S or non-S.
 
Personally... I don't care what they do in China... if a cheaper iPhone helps them sell more... party on... but I hope they don't cheap'n themselves outside of these low-end markets.

Anyway... hardware is not the secret sauce anymore... really... tweek this, add that... it's all evolutionary changes for all the handset makers... Apple, Samsung, HTC and the rest.

What's Apple's secret sauce is their eco system and iOS. They could give us more cool and useful functions with iOS way more than with hardware changes. My iPhone 5 is a nice size... fast... good looking. Nothing to complain about.
 
A 5S with fingerprint technology would be huge. It would be enough to keep Apple on top and I predict that when the dust settles, the iPhone 5 will have outsold the Samsung SIV, just as the 4S outsells the SIII. As an iPhone 5 owner, a 5S with fingerprint tech would cause me to upgrade.
 
iGrip said:
Naw. The S versions are the good ones. The suckers buy the originals of each series.
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Does it have to be every freakin' year? How about every 9 months instead? Did it really need 16 months for Apple to release iPhone 4S with BETA Siri?

In retrospect, I think they did this for Verizon, they didn't want to burn off the just released Verizon iPhone 4 in Feb
 
Luis Ortega said:
The whole idea of a cheaper phone seems anathema to apple's image as a premium brand. They could get away with offering a size range, but a cheaper, crappier phone sounds like capitulation and would finally bury the influence of Steve Jobs and lead apple back to mediocrity.
Click to expand...

An iPhone can easily take 5 months of pay (before tax, rent, etc) for many workers in a state capital, not even to mention for people in villages.

They're missing out on quite a big market by not selling a phone at a realistic price for these people.
 
Hurry up and make the $69.00 iphone with the $19.99 a month unlimited
contract.
 
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