Analyst Speculation on $99 iPhone and Higher Resolution iPhone 3G

[M!M!C]

$99 and the new $299

There will be two phones at this time. One as an entry level of $99 and the other at $299.

The $299 will most likely introduce higher storage, custom processor, and better camera (perhaps a second for video iChat).

If both phones have the new processor, the $299 will be clocked higher and/or have two cores for those high end games

I don't expect the $99 phone to be dumbed down from the current line, but rather the $299 phone to be highly upgraded.

 

[rednano74]

I do not quite understand people's ignorance here.

Does Apple have just one desktop? one laptop? one iPod? etc?

Hmmm let's see here....NO NO NO NO!!!

So, Apple releasing a stripped down version of the iPhone with maybe just a phone and iPod without all the "wow" factor behind the original/3G versions could just happen. It's called expanding their market penetration. There is a crap load more money to be made with AT&T then with iTunes and Apps. Most people do not realize this...while iTunes is a revenue generating stream of income Apple, it produces very little profit or adds to Apple's bottom line after all said and done.

My prediction: The iNano is coming within the next year.

 

[koobcamuk]

Do they want customers with no money?

They don't seem to need them right now.

No, they don't need them - nor want them. THe PAYG option exists and there's the market catered for. It's in line with other handsets of similar spec.

£35/month for an unlimited data plan, with IMAP mail on all my accounts, including the text and calls, is a small price to pay and I am happy to pay it. Offers me a lot more than my crappy vodafone tariff did.

My prediction: The iNano is coming within the next year.

Surely you mean iPhone nano. I hate this "iTouch" "iNano" naming mistake. It doesn't exist.

 

[kallisti]

No updates = no annual plan upgrades = no retention for network carriers = bad in recession

2MP camera, are you kidding me? My old Samsung had 8, and my friend who lives in China, had a China Mob phone 4 years ago with a 12MP camera, so basically Apples joking again.
Plus the App stores a joke anyway, the person who approves or disproves apps should be shot.

Just out of curiosity, why do you want a phone with a higher megapixel camera? To make even bigger enlargements of crummy images? The reason phone images are so substandard has little to do with the megapixel count. If you care about image quality, then you will use an actual camera. If you don't care about image quality, then the number of megapixels is largely meaningless. It's like the MHz myth all over again....

 

[Tallest Skil]

I do not quite understand people's ignorance here.

Does Apple have just one desktop? one laptop? one iPod? etc?

Hmmm let's see here....NO NO NO NO!!!

What is the marketing strategy of the iPhone?

It's a smartphone. Not a dumbphone.
It has an App Store. Not two App Stores.

Apple couldn't care less about the people who can't afford data.

 

[kdarling]

Maybe they got confused because of the Instinct Mini

Sometimes rumors get crossed, especially since the source is often worker-spies in overseas plants.

An example is the rumors last year of high-res iPhones with keyboards, which were probably caused by manufacturing of the HTC Touch Pro.

So perhaps this is all because of the (also rumored) Instinct Mini ?

 

[Burntfender]

I swear if Apple is in anyway going to have a chance maintaining iPhone sales, they have to make alot of changes. Bluetooth, though I can't see happening, is something even cheap crappy phones have, and any phone as expensive as the iPhone should definetly have. Plus, they need to do something about the camera. All these other touch phones (that are inferior in terms of their interface) have 5 megapixel cameras with zoom and flash as well as video recording. Although these are imatations, the camera alone entices people to choose another phone over the iPhone. Which is a real pity, because OVERALL the iPhone is the best touch phone out there... I'm hoping for at least those two things in the next version.

 

[dernhelm]

Wow. Somebody put in a lot of effort to describe something that WILL NOT HAPPEN.

This belongs on P2.

 

[sjo]

I do not quite understand people's ignorance here.

Does Apple have just one desktop? one laptop? one iPod? etc?

Hmmm let's see here....NO NO NO NO!!!

So, Apple releasing a stripped down version of the iPhone with maybe just a phone and iPod without all the "wow" factor behind the original/3G versions could just happen. It's called expanding their market penetration. There is a crap load more money to be made with AT&T then with iTunes and Apps. Most people do not realize this...while iTunes is a revenue generating stream of income Apple, it produces very little profit or adds to Apple's bottom line after all said and done.

My prediction: The iNano is coming within the next year.

apple may well release several iphone models, but the spec sheet the analyst has put together doesn't really make much sense.

to expand the sales apple needs to address the issues it's having with iphone international sales. the spec sheet does nothing of the sort.

take a look at samsung i8910 and nokia n97, that's where apple needs to aim hardware wise with higher end iphone model, either match or exceed.

for lower end iphone model hardware, nokia 5800 xpress music might offer some insight.

as for iphone nano, apple have gone on record as saying they are not interested in voice centric end of the cell phone market, so most likely there won't be iphone nano.

 

[oticon6]

Oh bull. Get out, stupid analysts.

Higher resolution but same size? Give me a break. The pixels on the iPhone are as small as they'll ever need to be. Nobody cares.

No video? I highly doubt that Apple would do something so low. We KNOW from jailbreak that video can be supported, it's just a matter of time and a firmware update.

Differing data plans? Nothing to do with Apple's roadmap.

Less than 2MP camera and no 3G? Yeah no. They're not going to go *backwards*.


This should be a Page 2 rumour.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Maybe I'm hallucinating but I thought I'd been reading reports of how ATT is trying to exit EDGE service to build out the more profitable 3G. I don't see a cheap EDGE iPhone in the future. I do see a $99 iPhone, but more likely the current 8GB model, not the Gen 1.0 one. EDGE is a dinosaur. We were all disappointed with it on the first iPhone. Why bring it back?

 

[kastenbrust]

Just out of curiosity, why do you want a phone with a higher megapixel camera? To make even bigger enlargements of crummy images? The reason phone images are so substandard has little to do with the megapixel count. If you care about image quality, then you will use an actual camera. If you don't care about image quality, then the number of megapixels is largely meaningless. It's like the MHz myth all over again....

Yeah but id like pictures bigger than my thumb thanks. I dont carry my camera with me all the time, and sometimes having a mobile camera can be useful, for example at Macworld and other expo's if you see something cool and want a quick snap, carrying a camera around just in case isn't practical.

 

[3247]

I highly doubt they'd jack up the resolution. But 2MP + Video? Come on thats ridiculous for a phone. I'd expect no less than 3.2MP AF for the next update, thats really whats been lacking in terms of hardware.

To keep up with other phones, it should be at least 5 MP with Xenon flash.

Different screen resolution = no App Store.
No App Store = no point in sales

That's nonsense. The hardware or operating system could simply scale the screen for older applications.

 

[Tallest Skil]

That's nonsense. The hardware or operating system could simply scale the screen for older applications.

Good luck. Apple can't even do that on their desktop OS.

 

[ZacUSNYR]

I don't get why people feel 3G is a value upgrade on the iPhone. It is something that should have been there in the original version, nearly all new phones are capable of accessing the new, growing, 3G networks on Tmobil and AT&T.

3G is not just data.

 

[surferfromuk]

2MP camera ? Are you kidding - 2007 was two years ago...

What have you been doing since then? Idling around whilst the competition catch you up!

6MP and motorized optical zoom or keep it in the lab until you get it right...

Apple were given the benefit of the doubt with the second gen essentially being a lightly tweaked first gen but this time they got to up the ante...

 

[jouster]

How long have we been promised resolution independence?

Never, at least for the iPhone.

 

[Bonte]

A $99 subsidized phone is not low-end, this would still be a $300 phone.

Having a lower resolution would be a problem for the apps but higher is definitely better, the iphone has osX at its core and there is no reason it would need a fixed resolution. It would also be much better for reading books and comics, the next digital revolution for Apple to conquer.

 

[BenRoethig]

Not this worthlessness again...

Different screen resolution = no App Store.
No App Store = no point in sales

Also, they would both have a data plan.

Depends on the features of the next version of OSX mobile and the screen that is being used. There could be a feature to either drop resolution for existing apps or scale existing apps to the higher resolution. We're not dealing with traditional mobile firmware here, but a mobile OS derived from a computer OS and maybe its time they bring some computer tricks into the equation. Apple is going to have to fix this issue sooner or later, much better from a PR standpoint to fix it sooner and give your self a better product as well.

A $99 subsidized phone is not low-end, this would still be a $300 phone.

Apple is also exceptional at semantics. One mans cheap is another's affordable value.

 

[MaxiKana]

Yeah but id like pictures bigger than my thumb thanks. I dont carry my camera with me all the time, and sometimes having a mobile camera can be useful, for example at Macworld and other expo's if you see something cool and want a quick snap, carrying a camera around just in case isn't practical.

Right, megapixels doesn't really mean anything. If you scan a 10x13cm photograph it doesn't matter if it's at 300DPI or 600DPI. Sure the filesize is larger but there won't be any more detail in the 600DPI file.

If you have **** optics (ie a camera phone) a sensor that is smaller than my pinky nail, it doesn't matter if that sensor has 2, 4 or 24 megapixels, the photos WILL be ****. The less pixels in a camera sensor, the better quality they are. There is a finite amount of light that you get through a small lense, dividing that up to more pixels won't result in a better image. Take the Canon 1D camera released in 2000-ish. It has a 4 megapixel sensor but you can take it's photographs, make them larger in photoshop and print them 20 by 30 inches at 300DPI and have them developed (or printed) and they will beat the **** out of any consumer-level camera thats around today (yes, even the 15 megapixel ones).

tl;dr

Megapixels doesn't mean ****. The size of the physical pixel (and, therefore, sensor) and the noise reduction prior to digitalization has more importance in producing a good phoot than the MP count. I'd prefer they keep it at around 3MP but make the photos sharper, with less noise and more detail than make them 12MP just for the namesake.

 

[sushi]

Different screen resolution = no App Store.
No App Store = no point in sales

Well put.

If Apple does release a new model, it has to support the app store.

Not if the screen size is the same, and if Cocoa-touch is resolution independent.

All that means is that the better phone would have better quality visuals.

How long have we been waiting for resolution independence?

I'm sorry, but I just don't see a dumbed down version of the iPhone. Apple sells premium products. A low end iPhone doesn't make sense to me when the iPhone is selling well.

 

[odaiwai]

2MP camera ? Are you kidding - 2007 was two years ago...

Speaking as a photographer, I wouldn't mind the iPhone retaining a 2MP camera, but increasing the light sensitivity and getting autofocus

The iPhone camera is pretty good if you have good light, and plenty of it.

 

[wildspin]

This RBC guy was wrong for too many times, he has no credibility at all. Making a nice looking chart doesn't make things become real. You can do it with your wishlist as well.

 

[bytethese]

How long have we been promised resolution independence?

And how long have we had it? Oh, wait...

Well put.

If Apple does release a new model, it has to support the app store.


How long have we been waiting for resolution independence?

I can see this happening:

"Apple today announced the new iPhone 3G with higher resolution. Along with this, Apple has also released version 2.3 of their SDK with one notable feature, applications can be developed to work on both the previous iPhone 3G and the newer iPhone 3G thus eliminating fear of applications that will not work on both devices due to screen resolution issues."

 

[kallisti]

Yeah but id like pictures bigger than my thumb thanks. I dont carry my camera with me all the time, and sometimes having a mobile camera can be useful, for example at Macworld and other expo's if you see something cool and want a quick snap, carrying a camera around just in case isn't practical.

The existing iPhone camera is more than adequate to do that already, depending on what you want to ultimately do with the images. For posting on the web, 2MP is fine. For printing, you can probably get by with prints up to 5" x 7" (4" x 6" certainly). Are you ever going to print an 8" x 10" of something you took with your phone and need a *good* print quality?

How Big Can I Print?

Bumping it up to 4 or 6 MP would be reasonable. Anything larger than that is a complete waste. Image quality will be limited by the lens and the sensor, not by the number of MP. Small lenses are only capable of so much. Not to mention you have zero control over things like overall exposure, white balance, shutter speed, aperture, etc.

Phones are for taking snapshots. For snapshots, you don't need large MP counts.