The 4.8-inch iPhone, which may be the iPhone 6, will launch in the middle of 2014, according to one analyst
Apple’s rumoured iPhone 6, which may be a 4.8-inch smartphone, may not arrive until the middle of next year, an analyst has claimed.
The Apple rumour vortex (the term ‘rumour mill’ no longer seems appropriate) continues to spew out wildly varying account of what the Cupertino-based giant will release next, but one analyst has gone as far as to suggest we won’t be seeing the iPhone 6 until mid-2014.
Peter Misek, a well-known analyst from Jefferies, has said there are ‘three possible bottlenecks’ which ‘could contribute to lower yields’. Apparently such low yields could either cause a higher priced iPhone than was originally intended or the delay of the launch until 2014. It would seem Misek thinks the latter is more likely.
Misek thinks Apple will ‘skip over 28nm’ processors ‘and go to 20nm to facilitate adding more cores (4 or even 8)’. He alleges that TSMC, the chip maker Apple now uses, would have trouble meeting the required production levels of this new hardware in time for a launch anytime this year.
Another ‘bottleneck’ is the shift from in-cell LCD, as seen on the current-generation iPhone 5, to a new on-cell OLED or IGZO technology.
‘We think in- cell is having difficulty ramping to 4.8", which is making Apple look at switching to on-cell (a different integrated touchscreen technology) and OLED (despite Apple’s suppliers being well behind Samsung in their OLED capabilities) or IGZO,’ said Misek.
Lastly, there’s the issue of the iOS software. It's widely reported that Apple has put its chief design guru Jony Ive on the case to revamp iOS' look and feel.
However, Misek thinks Apple plans to completely re-build iOS from the ground up in order to optimise the platform around multi-core processors with more cores.
‘Also, we believe the way iOS interoperates with iCloud, gestures controls, and advertising will be substantially upgraded,’ he said.
Rumours persist that Apple could be launching both a premium-model iPhone and a budget-price version in 2013, but it’s not clear how the naming convention will pan out.
The next premium model could be the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, while so far we’ve heard talk of the budget model being codenamed the iPhone Math.
by via Know Your Mobile
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