Sapphire-Coated iPhone 6, iWatch on Release Date Confirmed as Apple Tipped for Epic 2014-2015 Sales – Reports
The iPhone 6 is rumoured to pair with the iWatch on release date this 2014 and according to analysts, the two iOS devices would be responsible for the giant cash haul that will greet Apple in 2014 with the bonanza extending to the end of 2015.
The iPhone 6 alone, which is said to rollout in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes with the attending iOS 8 killer features, has been reported to attract more than 56 million of total sales by December 2014.
According to UBS, smartphone buyers from the United States and China will flock in big numbers to the next iPhone models, most of them upgrading from iPhone 4 and 4S.
And this will be the rosy scenario in spite of the likelihood that Apple will issue its sequel to the iPhone 5S at a higher price. For instance, Market Watch said in a report this week that the iPhone 6 phablet with contract will hit the shelves with a sticker price of $300 but consumers will surely scoop up the device, unmindful of the $100 premium price from the previous builds.
The iWatch, on the other hand, is all set for a blazing start and run with BMO Capital Markets boldly predicting that the wearable device will lure in 10 to 20 per cent of existing iPhone owners worldwide. The timepiece, though with standalone features, is rumoured to pair with upcoming and old iPhone models.
BMO's math points to projected sales of between 33 million and 67 million iWatch units by the end of 2015, the calculation based on 335 million iPhones that will be in active circulation by the close of 2014, Apple Insider said in a new report.
Apart from being a companion iPhone gadget, the iWatch is poised to be a consumer magnet, added the same report, due mainly to its expected bevy of killer features that analysts said will redefine the healthy lifestyle of millions of Apple fans.
Meanwhile, both the iPhone 6 and the iWatch are speculated to share two new iOS device materials - curved displays that will give the gadgets unique form-factor and sapphire coating that will render them good as new throughout their life cycle.
Sapphire, according to BGR, is virtually confirmed as part of the simultaneous iPhone 6 and iWatch market debut. GT Advanced Technologies, Apple's sapphire manufacturing partner, is said to be all set to deliver volume shipments of the extra-strong glass coating material, added the report.
"I believe that (GT's) sapphire operations will have ample supply to cover the iWatch, the 4.7-inch iPhone and the 5.5-inch iPhone with full sapphire cover glass in 2014," analyst Matt Margolis was quoted by BGR as saying in a Seeking Alpha report
"Additionally, the maximum sapphire screen capacity of the Mesa facility is likely to exceed 200m annual units," Margolis said.
Release dates of the two iPhone 6 variants as well as that of the iWatch, all powered by the recently unveiled iOS 8, are likely to happen anytime starting on middle of September 2014.