Apple Mulls an ‘iPhone Mini’ Release
Plans to Issue iPhone 5S in 5 Colours in June 2013
Apple will reportedly issue new smartphones in colourful casings - three in one-tone: pink, yellow, blue; and the rest in two-tone: white & silver and black & slate. These new handsets will be called iPhone 5S and are set for a June 2013 release.
According to Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White, Apple is all set to overhaul its smartphone lineup after more than five years of setting the pace in the global handset industry purportedly to further strengthen its grip to the top post.
Reportedly part of Apple's new smartphone blueprint, which the tech giant is likely to unfurl by Q3 2013, is to offer two different screen sizes for the iPhone 5S, strongly suggesting that there is an 'iPhone Mini' currently in the works.
"The next iPhone will offer customers more choice in terms of screen size," BGR News reported Mr White as saying on Wednesday.
This move "will allow Apple to better bifurcate the market and expand its reach," the Topeka analyst added.
It will also mark the tech giant's second industry adjustment to address emerging trends that slowly eat up on its market dominance. It'll be recalled that Apple was compelled to release the iPad Mini in Q4 2012, which analysts said was a decision designed to arrest the rise of specific Android tablet models - Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire.
Apple is now aiming to fortify its top position by coming up with products that would appeal to wider market segments. If ever an iPhone Mini comes into fruition, it is expected to carry lower price tags, likely more attractive than the numbers that were previously attached to the iPad Mini.
Buoyed by the incredible reception generated by the iPad Mini, most notably in China, Apple appears more convinced to stretch the market attraction of its smartphone line, with Mr White forecasting "that the next iPhone will have more choices for customers."
"This entails an expansion in both the colour patterns and screen sizes with the next iPhone that we currently believe will be launched in May/June with certain supply production starting in March/April," Mr White was quoted by BGR as saying in his research note.