Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

ksec

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 23, 2015
2,294
2,662
I have been thinking how the rumoured LCD 6.1" Fits into the lineup. One possibilities is 6.1" isn’t actually the screen size at all, but the actual casing. So Apple will have a FaceID iPhone that doesn’t have the notch, it will be slightly taller and has black bar above for FaceID, its screen size is basically the same 5.8" iPhone X.

Let’s call that iPhone 9, Basically longer iPhone X with FaceID but without the notch, Retina LCD display instead of Super Retina with OLED, Aluminium casing instead of the more expensive Steel. It will basically serve the middle tier market.

So by 2020, the iPhone Line up could be something like
(By iPhone X I mean the Notch Design )

iPhone X 6.5" $999
iPhone X 5.8" $899
iPhone X 4.9" $799

iPhone 9 6.5" $699
iPhone 9 5.8" $599

iPhone 7 5.5" $499
iPhone 7 4.7" $399
iPhone SE 4.0" $299

This way, Apple can innovate whatever they want in the top tier. Trying to ship 200M+ iPhone with state of the art technology every year is very much something even Apple cant cope. By have all the latest tech and innovation at their top tier price, the sales volume should be easier, not to mention this actually improves margin.

iPhone 7 and SE design will be Touch ID base, and Apple may only update the internal every once in a while. kind of like the iPad. And it will serve the bottom end market for a long time to come.

It has been 10 years since the Smartphone revolution. And the whole world smartphone market, including China are starting to get mature. Phone upgrade pace are slowing down, it seems price segmentation and lineup, is likely what apple will do, much like its iPod at its late stage of cycle.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,520
26,151
I have been thinking how the rumoured LCD 6.1" Fits into the lineup. One possibilities is 6.1" isn’t actually the screen size at all, but the actual casing.

Virtually no chance of that happening. If you survey the current competitive landscape, 6.1” is the median display size.

For example, Samsung’s Galaxy S8 starts at 5.8” and the S8+ is 6.2”. The Note is 6.3”.

Apple is embarking on a display size strategy like most of its competition is. We’ve seen it with iPad and we’re seeing it with iPhone. Anything less than 5.8” today is considered small.
[doublepost=1522261546][/doublepost]
It has been 10 years since the Smartphone revolution. And the whole world smartphone market, including China are starting to get mature. Phone upgrade pace are slowing down, it seems price segmentation and lineup, is likely what apple will do, much like its iPod at its late stage of cycle.

Yes, I agree and it's why we're seeing analysts put a lot of hope in the 6.1" model. Apple's previous supercycle was in 2014 when it launched iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Right now, there's a large number of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners who are reluctant to upgrade to the 7, 8, or the X because it offers no compelling feature for the price.

The 6.1" model is targeted at that large swath of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners. Given the 6.1" model has a TFT-LCD, single camera, and lacks 3D Touch, it's clearly a precision tool targeted at iPhone 6 owners who are not yet motivated to upgrade. At the same time, it leaves room in Apple's product stack for the 2018 OLED models.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.