No Need to Rush iPhone 6 Release Date this 2014: iPhone 5S, Other iPhone Models Proved Most Profitable in Q4 2013 – Analyst
Apple need not to rush its iPhone 6 release date plans as the iPhone 5S and the existing iPhone models are doing extremely well in the sales department, capturing close to 90 per cent of the global smartphone income, a new report said.
By the end of December 2013, Apple's iPhones have raked in 87.4 per cent share of the total revenues generated by the mobile phone market worldwide, basing on the figures reported this week by Investors.com and picked up by Apple Insider.
According to Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt, iPhones, likely led by the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C tandem, sold briskly in the last three months of 2013. The report supported Apple's announcement in late January that its flagship products sold 51 million units during the holiday season last year.
The competition was completely overwhelmed, McCourt said, outstripping even the figures posted by Samsung, which in the past few years is the only device maker that proves as a threat to Apple's seemingly unchallenged dominance.
The Galaxy maker clocked in at 32.2 per cent share of the total profits that the industry has amassed, which is a far-second from Apple's overall haul.
At the moment, "the mobile device market continues to look like an Apple and Samsung market," McCourt told Apple Insider, adding that the current settings is especially true in the developed markets such as the United States, Australia, Japan and key parts of Europe.
The next battleground for Apple is the emerging markets or lucrative destinations like Brazil, India, China, Russia, South Africa and the remaining parts of Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle-East Asia.
Gadget consumers from these parts of the world are largely attuned to feature phones and entry-level smartphones, which is an area that currently is a Samsung turf with other Chinese players also gaining inroads, said the same report.
Nonetheless, the report suggests that Apple is too far ahead of the pack and can very well afford to keep its production and release calendar that is designed for the iPhone 6, analysts said.
There is no pressing need for the iPhone maker to alter its strategy and accelerate the next iPhone release date, as some Apple watchers have previously floated.
As such, it is likely that the iPhone 6 release date will happen in the second half of 2013 with September as the latest debut month, bearing these rumoured specs and features: a 5.5-inch screen, Liquidmetal casing, sapphire glass cover and coating, 64-bit A8 processing chip, wireless solar charging panel, Touch ID and iOS 8.