Apple is preparing an assault on the budget end of the smartphone market, in order to revive iPhone sales, according to an analyst.
JP Morgan’s Samik Chatterjee released a research note this week, claiming that the iPhone maker was set to go after “a much more ‘value’ category than it has been used to with its recent launches” at some point in 2020.
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According to CNBC, which has seen Chatterjee’s report, that handset could take the form of a lower-cost, 4.7-inch iPhone with an LCD display. However, it would be unlikely to offer 5G.
It sounds like a spiritual successor to the 4.7-inch iPhone 8, rather than the endlessly rumoured iPhone SE 2.
Chatterjee has predicted that this handset will be joined by a trio of OLED-toting 5G iPhones in September 2020 − Apple’s regular iPhone launch slot.
It’s Chatterjee’s belief that these handsets would measure in at 5.4-inches, 6.1-inches and 6.7-inches, offer “support for mmWave frequencies”, and that “at least two of the three models adopting world facing 3D Sensing (Time of Flight) driving industry leading AR/VR capabilities which can be leveraged by custom built applications (including games).”
Chatterjee believes that all of the above will be enough for Apple to revive iPhone sales, with JP Morgan predicting that the firm will sell 195 million iPhones in 2020, up from an estimated 180 million units in 2019.
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Apple’s current top level iPhone line-up comprises the 5.8-inch OLED iPhone XS, the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone XR and the 6.5-inch OLED iPhone XS Max.
Earlier this year another analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, released a research note predicting that Apple will release a brand new trio of iPhones this year: a 5.8-inch OLED model, a 6.1-inch LCD model and a 6.5-inch OLED model, none of which would offer support for 5G. Roll on 2020.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.