Apple CEO Tim Cook Departs The Stage Following His Keynote Address
Apple CEO Tim Cook departs the stage following his keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, June 2, 2014. Reuters

As more information about the iPhone 6 surfaces, analysts continue to revise their forecasts. From a $100 price target, new estimates border around $115 with more industry observers gaining confidence over the upcoming handset. Despite reported production problems, more experts believe that Apple could achieve an all-time high with its iPhone 6 series driving replacement cycles in terms of fresh and killer specs. Can Apple really deliver the best device yet?

Evercore Partners analysts Rob Circa shared his revised forecast about Apple's price target. According to The Street, from a $100 price target, Circa changed the price target to $115. In the last few weeks, Apple shares have been bordering around $93.50. This is near 17% for the year to date as well as 25% from the time Apple disclosed its fiscal second-quarter earnings last April. This is not the first time an analyst changed the forecast following more details about Apple's upcoming iPhone 6. In fact, many industry observers changed their predictions after Apple achieved all-time high stocks.

Experts note that the market has been looking forward to the flagship release especially the phablet version of the iPhone 6. According to Circa's note: "We see Apple creating its own growth through uniquely innovative hardware+software with integrated services vs. a sea of otherwise commodity devices."

According to The Street's report, reference to Apple's range of devices may indicate that the company is intent on killing Samsung. Tim Cook previously discussed how the company intends on attacking the market to take out competitors like Samsung.

While Apple's exact motives on cutting down the trade-in value for iPhone handsets remain unknown, it appears the company has been gearing up for a change in stocks. Customers may lose up to $45 with the new trade-in value according to Culf of Mac but they can still get discounted iPhone handsets from other retailers. According to Design and Trend, Walmart is now offering the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5s for discounted prices. Walmart set the new iPhone 5s 16GB price at $99 (from $149) under a two-year contract while the 16B iPhone 5c is now at $29 over the $49 tag from before. However, Apple's expected performance will also be burdened by a number of obstacles especially the company's $130 billion responsibility to shareholders by 2015. Tim Cook promised during his keynote speech at the last Worldwide Developers Conference that the Apple will be a new company. It will explore new product categories and markets. According to predictions, Apple's ecosystem along with its software capabilities can drive growth for smart and "smarthome devices." Samsung acknowledges the challenge. The Wall Street Journal quotes Samsung America CEO Dale Sohn: "Beating Apple is no longer merely an objective. It is our survival strategy."

The Samsung official may be right as recent statistics according to Forbes and ComScore suggest that Apple remains the top dog in the United States. Its iPhone series remains the most popular handset accounting for 41.9% while Samsung got 27.8% of the market. As for the OS, Android remains ahead with 52.1% compared to the 41.9% of the iOS.