Apple Reportedly Plans to Launch Revised 4.7-inch iPhone 8 in March 2020 to Boost Share of Mid-Tier Smartphone Market

[Phoenix1000]

Single lens camera - no sale.

Why? Photos from smart phones look all bad, regardless if the phone has one, two, three, four or twenty lenses. You want a good photo? Take a nice camera and forget about phones. Besides, the more lenses they put on a phone, the uglier it becomes. No reason to buy a phone with more than one lense.

 

[Kram Sacul]

The loser iPhone XR is the second best selling smartphone iin Europe and best selling in the UK. This is far from a flop.

Pretty sad.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Apple would be more interesting if they decided to redesign their smaller phones. At least then instead of relegating smaller to not as good or cheap or low budget phones. Make a premium smaller phone. Three brand new xPhones... iPhone X Min, iPhone X Mid, iPhone X Max... make size the only differentiating factor and three size points.

 

[19SK91]

Besels are better than a god damn notch

Different strokes for different folks. I have no issue with the notch and never notice it unless I actively look at the status bar.

 

[allanfries]

I will be going with it, at renewal time this December. Bonus with the upgrades.

 

[SBlue1]

Thats my next phone. Happy with Touch ID and the form factor.

 

[gaximus]

No buy. Call me stubborn or whatever.
The day my SE dies, if no replacement available from Apple with 3.5mm jack, it's the day I stop having an Apple phone. That simple

Might want jump the gun and get a new phone now with a headphone jack, as even Samsung'newest phone doesn't have a headphone jack. That way you can go longer before the phone dies

 

[femike]

I would like another iPhone 6/7/8 size. I love the bezels, its functional, also prefer the home button, don't care about face ID, wireless charging, don't care about the notch.

However, I do want current a CPU, 4gb ram, bluetooth 5, updated RF, improved speakers, and all other up to date and improved internals and parts, and also a headphone jack, and can even make the phone thicker for bigger battery.

So basically I want no increase to the external dimensions compared to the iPhone 6,7,8.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

By 2020, most of them will have reached stage 5 of the grief model - acceptance.

I'll be nearly in the same place - acceptance that there will never be another MBP as good as the 2015 Retina model.

 

[tresmith]

SE diehard fans: This is your affordable small form factor iPhone.

Here's hoping but something tells me that they are not going to do that.
[doublepost=1555567836][/doublepost]

Yes, and under Tim Cook, Apple won’t design a new form factor to satisfy a niche market.

But people wanting a small form factor phone is not a niche market.

 

[JPack]

But people wanting a small form factor phone is not a niche market.

In that case, every single smartphone manufacturer in the world got it wrong. This includes Apple who discontinued the SE. The small form factor segment is such a "goldmine" that nobody bothers tapping into.

 

[robo28]

I have just signed up because I cannot stand anymore these big iPhones. Please, Apple, make iPhone SeX or SE2.

 

[subjonas]

I would consider a 4.7 Phone if it was bezelless. There is no way that i am gonna size-upgrade my current SE to such a big clumsy design of the iPhone 6/7/8. I got rid of my horrible iPhone 6 after 12 Months and switched to the SE. Best decision ever.

If my SE dies in a few years and Apple does not come up with a budget small phone or a premium small phone, I will have made alternative plans:

Plan B: Get a small android phone, if available then.

Plan C: Get a dumb but small flip phone and quit smartphones all together.



Screw You, Tim, I won't buy any of Your clumsy fugly phablets !

Hey I have the same plans kind of!
I also have a plan B-B: the light phone 2, if it ever comes out.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2#/
And if I go with B-B or C, I might also need to get an additional iPod touch to carry around because I do need constant access to certain apps for work purposes, unfortunately.
If carrying two devices turns out to be more than I can handle though, I may have to grudgingly get an 8. It will be a sad sad day.

But I got an extra se on clearance, so I should be good for a good 4-5 years if necessary, although I’ll be stuck with older software. But I really hope by then there will be some small phone options.

 

[MobiusStrip]

Home Button and thick bezels for $649? I don‘t think many people will buy that. If they keep the 4.7" display size but shrink the bezel and add FaceID then people who want an SE2 would buy it.

No. It’s a touchscreen device, and as such it should have bezels, duh.

Retain the HEADPHONE JACK. Then Apple might retain its self-respecting customers.

 

[kloppdroptop]

I’d love an updated iPhone 7 shell with internals from the 8, with an A12 chip.
I don’t want a glass back phone that could shatter if dropped, my 7 is still running fine and it’s lightweight.
I’d buy that for $500 for 64gb, call it iPhone Air.

Or I’d take an XR or XS with a 5 inch display (closer in size to the 5 5s SE) so I could hold it one handed.
I’d pay $750 for a smaller X iPhone with high end specs.

 

[bodonnell202]

I don’t buy this. The iPhone 8 will see another price drop with the new release in September. Why would they update it in March? The pricing of the revised article also doesn’t make sense. It would also be a concession that the X series and whatever follows is not the future of iPhone. I just don’t see that happening.

This actually mirrors exactly what happened with the 5s & SE a few years back. The 5s was the only remaining 4" iPhone in Apple's lineup back in September 2015 when the 6s was released. In March 2016 when the 5s was roughly 2.5 years old it was discontinued and replaced by the SE, which was basically a 5s with a the latest CPU and camera. In March 2020 the 8 will 2.5 years old and will likely be the only remaining 4.7" iPhone in the lineup. I see it as likely that Apple will replace it with a new version which is basically an 8 with the latest CPU and a newer camera so they can continue to sell the classic iPhone design at a base level price for a few more years. The X form factor won't be coming down in price to anything close to what the 7 currently sells for anytime soon.

Apple is also very much in the habit of recycling older designs when introducing low cost and mid-range devices in recent years. The SE, 5th & 6th generations iPads and the 2019 iPads Mini and Air are all examples so from that angle this also seems likely.

 

[redfirebird08]

SE diehard fans: This is your affordable small form factor iPhone.

That's not a small phone. It's the same size as the 6 and I moved from the 6 to the SE.

 

[JPack]

That's not a small phone. It's the same size as the 6 and I moved from the 6 to the SE.

The iPhone 8 is considered a small phone in the age of 6.5" displays and foldables.

 

[manni]

Lot of commenters here don't understand the iPhone market at all. Every single $100 increment is an entirely different market unto itself. At $649 this product has a slew of potential buyers that simply aren't going to go any higher than that for a phone...but still want the best thing they can get for their money.

The issue I think is that approach might have worked well in 2014 but the market seems to be shifting. Especially in the markets in Asia one can buy very cheap phones with edge to edge displays and dual cameras etc. Yes the quality isn't the same as Apple and they run Android but the pricing is so aggressive. If Apple wants to sell rehashed models - and I think there is a lot of sense in doing that as it happens - I think they might need to be more aggressive with pricing or specs.

 

[tresmith]

In that case, every single smartphone manufacturer in the world got it wrong. This includes Apple who discontinued the SE. The small form factor segment is such a "goldmine" that nobody bothers tapping into.

When they release nothing but large phones what is a customer supposed to do?

I myself upgraded from an SE to a XS last September just because the SE was way behind in features. I had no choice but to buy a large phone. But if they released an SE sized iPhone XS I'd be all over it.

Apple and others are trying to create the market rather than make phones for an existing market. Forcing people to buy large phones is their way of justifying the outrageous prices of their phones and price increases every year. Basically they're like " yeah the phone is $200 more this year but that's because it's an inch bigger" It's total BS.

And for the record the small form factor segment is a goldmine. When they released the SE it sold out. I had to wait 2-3 months to get one. And when I sold it last fall after getting the XS I still got $300 for it. Not bad for a phone that I paid $200 for in 2016.

 

[JPack]

When they release nothing but large phones what is a customer supposed to do?

I myself upgraded from an SE to a XS last September just because the SE was way behind in features. I had no choice but to buy a large phone. But if they released an SE sized iPhone XS I'd be all over it.

Apple and others are trying to create the market rather than make phones for an existing market. Forcing people to buy large phones is their way of justifying the outrageous prices of their phones and price increases every year. Basically they're like " yeah the phone is $200 more this year but that's because it's an inch bigger" It's total BS.

And for the record the small form factor segment is a goldmine. When they released the SE it sold out. I had to wait 2-3 months to get one. And when I sold it last fall after getting the XS I still got $300 for it. Not bad for a phone that I paid $200 for in 2016.

So the market research done by Apple, Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Google, Sony and countless others is wrong?

Xiaomi sells phones that range from $60 to $600. If the market for small phones existed beyond a niche, they would have tapped into it. The reality is not a single manufacturer thinks that market is worthwhile.

 

[MidwestMacGuy]

No videographers will killed in the making of these videos....that we know of....

 

[Virinprew]

The timing is similar to iPhone SE. The SE came out when 5S was the lowest tier. This iPhone 8S might be my next purchase. However, $649 is not a mid-tier.

 

[joesmi1514]

Price will be the key, because I do think there's a market for a smaller form factor, TouchID-based phone.

I don't understand why they refuse to simplify...

iPhone Classic (SE/8 equivalent)
iPhone XI
iPhone XI Plus (Changing Plus to Max was stupid, IMO)

They can still sell older models if they need to flesh out the pricing tiers.

Please get back to basics, Apple!

 

[first-to-tea]

There are those of us who don't care for FaceID and want to keep our home button and TouchID. To us, it's "our beloved old models" and "crappy new models".

I would buy this phone in an instant if they released it in a Plus version. It sounds like they won't, so I will still have to begrudgingly move to a FaceID phone someday, but I plan to hang onto my iPhone 7 Plus as long as I can.

My girlfriend has an iPhone 6 and feels the same way. I may buy her one of these for her birthday next year if she hasn't upgraded by then!

Why not just get iPhone 8. My point is that these old technologies are holding Apple back. Once new tech arrived, Steve jobs moved the whole line on in a heart beat.