Uncertainty Over Apple's Sapphire Plans for iPhone 6 Remains as Analyst Estimates Vary Widely

[powers74]

wait... so these analysts aren't always right?

lol word

Sapphire for laptop displays? I think Huh needs to have his head checked... that just seems like an extravagant waste of money. Laptop displays don;t have nearly the exposure or risk of scratching as phones or watches. You don't put a laptop into a bag with the screen out so it can get scratched by your keys!

Agreed. That statement lost this guy all credibility.

An iPad on the other hand...


Unrelated: When did downvoting return???

 

[lowercaseperson]

Now having multiple size phones is not the norm to be sure, but then again neither were the 5C and 5S combinations. Who knows at this point what the 6 landscape will look like.

Undisputed - the 5C/5S distinction is precisely why I have been mum on the topic of 4.7 and 5.5" sizes. However, throwing in a "premium" display within those size differentiations seems more a leap than a step.

to be fair I would hardly call alternative display glass (i.e. mix of standard and sapphire) a dramatic fracturing. Its in fact no more fracturing than a color variant would be since no software cares.

I simply have to disagree here though. Color variations are not even really considered upgrades and mainly chosen because of personal bias. A sapphire crystal display that has entirely shifted the norm of manufacturing and industry standards (at least within Apple for now), I would argue, is a significant change/upgrade.

At the end of the day though - I don't have a crystal ball and you're right after seeing the 5C/5S distinctions come through last year it'll be tough to surprise me.

 

[TWSS37]

This is a great post because it's the first one I've seen with the downvote button back!!!

----------

I am deeply disappointed no one has replied with:

"Huh?"

 

[TypeEE]

part of the 70mil order are iphone 6c (5c replacements) which will not have saphhire screens.

 

[duaneu]

I agree that sapphire seems kind of pointless on a laptop. I'd love to go without a smart cover for the iPad though.

 

[sulpfiction]

Sapphire or no Sapphire, I don't know. But what I do know is that there is no way Apple is going to split up displays on the same model.

 

[Mr.2double3]

Transform into anal(c)yst myself *roboticnoise*

When there are two iphone this and mid/next year, one will be known as iPhone Air

Both devices will have sapphire glass.
Apple will take the flash mem. to the next level: 16 GB Versions will end.
Bigger iPhone will have better camera and option for 128 GB.
Same chipset: A8, design, OS.

boing

 

[iLoveiTunes]

YaY... the downvoting is back....

 

[Tech198]

70 million units

That's allot of sapphire...

....Apple had better luck with Gorilla Glass.

 

[iChrist]

3GS=speed
4s=Siri
5s=security
6s=sapphire display

Precisely.

There will be NO sapphire on any of the iPhone 6. It will be saved as a feature for the 6s. They need something to differentiate the 6s since Apple doesn't like to put too much new in the S models.

 

[roadbloc]

Because analysts don't know anything. They're just as clueless as the rest of the internet.

 

[RightMACatU]

I propose a Weatherman approach: today we have a 60% chance of sapphire-use. Tomorrow is another folks, tune in for the latest

 

[SMIDG3T]

It's simple.

Me, among others want sapphire glass.

A 128GB model for me then! (If Apple go that high!)

 

[gnasher729]

Sapphire for laptop displays? I think Huh needs to have his head checked... that just seems like an extravagant waste of money. Laptop displays don;t have nearly the exposure or risk of scratching as phones or watches. You don't put a laptop into a bag with the screen out so it can get scratched by your keys!

iPad would make more sense. Monitors for use in public places might make a little bit of sense, but that would only be to help against vandalism, and vandals have bigger things than keys.

 

[cocky jeremy]

People use screen protectors?

I know what you mean. I hate the idea of covering my phone with anything.

 

[StyxMaker]

GT and Apple better hire a lot of people good at using hacksaws so they can get to cuttin' that sapphire.

GT uses a proton cannon to cut the sapphire.

 

[Xerotech]

iPhone 6->"Redesigned."
iPhone 6s->"All new Sapphire Display."

It seems a little bit too early for Apple to incorporate Sapphire displays into their biggest product. They are usually very thorough and like to have everything perfect. I can see them using the iWatch as a test run.

As far as the iPad, the screens are much to large to have Sapphire anytime soon. It seems Apple likes to put a feature into the iPhone and later add it into their iPad line.

 

[ray6712]

If they announce it it will be for all iPhones they would add something without being able to cover every model

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

iPhone 6->"Redesigned."
iPhone 6s->"All new Sapphire Display."

It seems a little bit too early for Apple to incorporate Sapphire displays into their biggest product.

On the contrary - there's no time like the present. Whereas the 6 will retain the A7 processor, it makes more sense for the 6S to incorporate a speed bump as the main feature.

 

[MarkNY]

All these rumors -- yet, next to nothing about screen resolution, other than the old rumor of 1704 x 960 or whatever the weird resolution was. Seems odd.

 

[koa]

After digging deeply, Matt Margolis has determined Apple could produce 100 million screens... Or 200 million screens! Way to narrow it down Matt!

 

[bananas]

My shot at being an analyst on the interwebs:

iPhone 6 will have A8, 1GB RAM, 1810 mAh battery, sapphire screen, 13Mpix camera, antenna bands on the back side, black, white and gold as color options.

 

[CPx]

Ugh, I want to keep the 6 for 3-4 years. If the base model doesn't use sapphire but the top end does, that's going to suck.

 

[Four oF NINE]

Has anyone mentioned that they may be laminating the sapphire with graphene? I think this could be huge - more than just hard to scratch.

What would that accomplish?

 

[itpromike]

Apples Sapphire plants are in Arizona and are controlled by Apple employees with joint staffing from GT Advanced... Analysts aren't touring the sapphire facilities and haven't seen Apple produce tons of anything because Apple isn't giving any analysts tours of their facility... If Apple was then there wouldn't be this wide varying range of analyst predictions on what their capacity is. No, they are talking to 'supply chain' folks who give information for money and will keep feeding analysts what they want to hear as long as they are getting paid to do so. If you read closely even in the article associated with this thread the analyst with the highest guess of capacity for producing sapphire got his guess from a lot of 'digging into regulatory and import filings'. He wouldn't have to do that if Apple was freely giving tours out to analysts of their Sapphire plant...

But what about the factory. With all the money to be made, don't you think some analysts have gone to the factory and seen if it is producing tons of sapphire or not? If the factory is up and running at full steam, then we know they are making sapphire and that it is being made to be used in something.

----------

I'm pretty sure the cheapest new iPhone outsells all the other iPhones in a line combined. So I suspect if sapphire screens were reserved just for the next GB up (let's hope that 32gb is the base), then everyone who wants one can get one. It would be nice to get a little something more for a $100 than just a bit more flash memory.