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Apple's Lower-Cost iPhone to Lack Retina Display?

Radio said:
quality can be low cost.

i dont get the hate.

i see poor college kids with iphones why cant a 3rd world person get their iphones? :mad:
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questionable statistics aside, how would anyone, even in the third world. consider a 480x320 display quality, even on a sub 400 phone?

they would directly compete with the nexus 4 at that price point- no way the apple brand is strong enough so that people put up with a massively inferior product.

there are other 720p phones at that price point as well, heck, those chinese companies nobodys ever heard of give you a 1080p display at 180 dollars or something ive recently read.

display is one of the most important features of a smartphone.

why would i buy an iphone nano or whatever its called?
 
ugahairydawgs said:
Logically....this makes zero sense. They just announced yesterday that starting 5/1 they aren't approving non-retina apps. To suggest they would make a device without the screen is just sloppy work by the analyst.
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This. Apple aren't accepting non-retina apps.
 
elvetio said:
For all of those saying that this phone does not make sense: in a lot of countries the subscription based model simply does not work. For instance, I pay only 5€ a month and I get free SMS and phone calls to all of those from my carrier. People don't want to spend 30 euros a month to get an iPhone. In the long run it is more expensive to do so than to pay full price. In Europe and other countries this is quite common
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And that's fine that the subscription model does not work. If people don't want to spend the money or don't have the money then they can buy another product.

Ferrari doesn't make a cheap car so that they can sell to the masses that can't afford their high quality cars. After all, if everyone had a Ferrari it wouldn't be a luxury anymore. For this reason there are so many people that want a Ferrari, or Bugatti, or Rolls Royce, or whatever and can't get them and that is perfectly fine. It makes us all want them even more.

A low cost iPhone may not kill the brand but it certainly doesn't help it.
 
Nope. They will not regress to non-retina display. Analysts are likely seeing the lower-cost iPhone 4 or 5 (with retina), and the new iPhone 6. We have seen similar analyst errors in the past. Apple will be hitting a home run this summer.
 
How about this: let's go back to the time when not everyone had (or needed) an Apple product. Make it premium again, with top notch quality.
 
Makes no sense as this will fragment the platform and Apple's clearly trying to move away from pre-retina resolution.
 
so many rumours :D

seems they cant get their hands on the real rumours so everyone just makes stuffs up :rolleyes:

releasing a cheaper iPhone to me is to allow alot of ppl enjoy the apple experience :cool:
 
This has to be completely false and it's not because of Apple's decision to enforce a new app policy demanding compatibility with Retina display, among other things, but because like the article says, Retina display has been a long time feature of the iPhone and Apple is proud of it. I could never imagine an iPhone without a retina display from here on out and I don't believe Apple could either.

The thought of using plastic vs an aluminum unibody however is more likely given that it has also been reported that they plan on using a new kind of plastic that is much more durable, thin and light— details that sound more like something Apple would be satisfied with if they ever do choose to return to a plastic body for the iPhone.
 
not a chance, yesterday they just said all apps have to now be retina and at least support iPhone 5 4" screen



The only way I could see this is if its the same resolution on this new phone just streteched out to bigger dimensions, then I guess technically it may not be retina anymore. No way are they going to go lower resolution though.
 
WestonHarvey1 said:
That just means all apps have to have retina assets. They are still usable on non-retina displays.

If it were otherwise, the iPad mini would be made instantly obsolete.
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I agree. But I still think their desire to have those screens across all product lines is a good indicator that they probably won't be going backwards there.
 
They have a low cost iPhone already, in fact quite a few. Iphone 3GS, Iphone 4, and the iPhone 4s. These are all at a lower cost than the current gen.


Apple putting out a low cost iphone, by not putting out their best, doesn't seem like Apple to me.
 
If a new cheaper iPhone ends up being more expensive than the iPod touch, it is still not a cheap smartphone. There are quite a few Android smartphones available around $199 without contract. And some pretty OK ones around $299. My guess is that a large percentage of the Samsung Smartphones being sold are below $299.
$299 is where the iPod Touch starts.

Maybe the Touch price could be lowered to around $199/$249 to let the new "cheap" iPhone start at around $299/$349.

Will be exciting to see what Apple does. I'd love to replace my kids' Androids (no matter how hard I try, I'm not a fan of that OS) — but currently, giving them iPhones is simply out of their league.
 
animefx said:
This would be horrible. Apple doesn't need to cheapen it's brand this way. Steve never wanted a crap product and non retina display in 2013 is no longer acceptable.

The iPhone 4 is free now, how can you get cheaper than that unless you are talking about buying a phone off of a contract. In a situation like that someone still in a 2 year contract has at least an iPhone 4 with retina display, if you have a 3GS no are no longer in a contract (or soon won't be) a non-retina device will not be an upgrade for you. If you don't have an iPhone or a contract the 4S should be the phone that's going to be free on a 2 year contract soon.

The only way this makes sense is if Apple simply wants to sell a cheap phone for people who don't like contracts or wants to make a cheap 4" display phone so that 3.5" displays are completely phased out.
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The iPhone is sold at Walmart. Let's stop throwing the cheapening of the Apple brand out there. Everybody and their mommy has an iPhone or could get one. It's not like it's some high end device that only the elite can buy.

A budget phone doesn't me it has to be a crappy cheap phone. If Apple could do a nice $350 phone with no contract, personally I'd probably get one myself and would be inclined to upgrade it the next year to whatever budget phone they release. The Nexus phone is nice for the price. I don't see why Apple couldn't produce something similar and in the price range

ETA:They could use a different screen that the higher end iphone but still have the Retina look. The question though is would this drop the pricing on the iPod Touch?
 
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fenderbass146 said:
not a chance, yesterday they just said all apps have to now be retina and at least support iPhone 5 4" screen



The only way I could see this is if its the same resolution on this new phone just streteched out to bigger dimensions, then I guess technically it may not be retina anymore. No way are they going to go lower resolution though.
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Supporting Retina just means you include the resources for the retina resolution devices, does not mean that we have to stop adding resources for the standard resolution devices. Devs will continue building apps with support for non-retina devices until they no longer are supported by iOS, and considering the most common version target these days is iOS 5, (iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 3rd Gen, iPad, iPad 2, iPad mini all non retina models) there's at least another few years left before pre-retina devices are left without support.

And thats all counting on Apple only introducing retina standard products in the future (which is very likely granted).
 
needfx said:
I don't think that supporting retina nullifies non-retina support
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I think that this is correct. There are millions of iPad minis out there with non retina displays. They are not going to be made obsolete so soon.
 
animefx said:
The iPhone 4 is free now, how can you get cheaper than that unless you are talking about buying a phone off of a contract. In a situation like that someone still in a 2 year contract has at least an iPhone 4 with retina display, if you have a 3GS no are no longer in a contract (or soon won't be) a non-retina device will not be an upgrade for you. If you don't have an iPhone or a contract the 4S should be the phone that's going to be free on a 2 year contract soon.
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Did it ever occur to you that perhaps Apple might want to target new segments and not just returning customers by releasing an even cheaper phone?

Perhaps they aren't even primarily targeting the U.S. (and the pecularities of the local phone business)? The iPhone, after all, has sold rather well there as it is. In many countries, at least in Europe, you can buy mostly any phone free with a contract, and as the "phone part" of the bill is often/sometimes clearly separated from the service, a cheaper phone directly leads to a lower monthly bill.
 
Pun intended.

If Apple decide to bring out a lower tier handset, it'll simply be an iPod Touch with cellular functionality.

Calling it.
 
????

If they can make an iPod touch and sell it for $199, why can't they make an iPhone and sell it for say $300 or 400 without any contract?
 
Apple's Lower-Cost iPhone to Lack Retina Display?

Of course.



We have reached the point where no major improvement can be made to smartphones.

- They have all the power needed
- Customer have been made to handle one day batterylife
- All function imaginable are included (only a few minor Apple didn't implement so they can "innovate")

You can't really make smarter-phones that will make older smartphones outdated or second choice. Look at how many people don't feel the need to upgrade their iPhone 4 or 4S or 5.
Hence the only way to make a lower end smarthphone is to make a dumber-phone !
So non retina, because Apple can't really make a much smaller screen than iPhone already has !
 
AppleScruff1 said:
I think that this is correct. There are millions of iPad minis out there with non retina displays. They are not going to be made obsolete so soon.
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Yes

Moreover, apple does not stipulate that they will not accept new apps as they do for use of UDIDs

====
Using Identifiers in Your Apps
March 21, 2013

Starting May 1, the App Store will no longer accept new apps or app updates that access UDIDs. Please update your apps and servers to associate users with the Vendor or Advertising identifiers introduced in iOS 6. You can find more details in the UIDevice Class Reference.

Make Your Apps Look Great on the Retina Display and iPhone 5
March 21, 2013

Starting May 1, new apps and app updates submitted to the App Store must be built for iOS devices with Retina display and iPhone apps must also support the 4-inch display on iPhone 5. Learn about preparing your apps by reviewing the iOS Human Interface Guidelines.
 
Why is this concept a surprise to anyone? This should have been obvious from the start. It's and easy way to lower costs and differentiate their products. It also allows for better performance on a lower specced phone, which is something Apple cares about. It's easy to downgrade retina graphics to non retina, every 4 pixels simply become 1. So the recent news that retina apps are required is a non-issue. All of these comments remind me of "Apple will never release a non-retina iPad Mini", but that's what they did. Now if they said this would be a 3.5" phone, that would be surprising.

4.0" screen, non retina display, single core A5 processor, plastic case. That's what people should expect at this point imo. Basically a long 3GS with performance somewhere between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S (closer to the 4S).

If Apple introduces a new, larger screen size, it will most likely come to the premium version first (or simultaneously).
 
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