Good news for iOS fans that don’t want to spend over £700 on the latest handset: a cheaper model is reportedly on the way. Bloomberg reports that the new handset, modeled on the iPhone 8, will go into production in February with plans for an official unveiling in March.
“People familiar with the plan” shared a number of interesting details with the site. In short, it looks like it’ll be a souped up iPhone 8, right down to the same 4.7-inch frame and the reliance on Touch ID in the home button.
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The key difference, of course, will be what’s on the inside: the same A13 Bionic chip currently seen in the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Oh, and the price, of course: Bloomberg’s sources reckon this will launch at $399 – a $50 cut on the iPhone 8, which is still sold in Apple stores worldwide. Given the iPhone 8 is £479 over here, we’re probably looking around the £429 mark in the UK – assuming all the above is solid.
And, for what it’s worth, there’s no reason to believe it isn’t. In part, because we’ve heard all of these details before, three months ago from the usually reliable investment notes of Ming Chi Kuo. Click on that link and you’ll see the same details repeated: the chipset, the iPhone 8 dimensions, even the price.
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The only differences, in fact, are extra details in the earlier report: it’ll apparently have 1GB less RAM than the iPhone 11, and it will indeed be branded as a followup to the iPhone SE. Or at least, that’s what Kuo was speculating three months ago.
At the time, Kuo predicted that Apple would sell 30 million of these new handsets over the course of a year. That certainly sounds believable: a cheaper iPhone with similar power to the pricey models – what’s not to love?
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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.
