Reports and sources this week have suggested that Apple fans eagerly anticipating a revolutionary iPhone 8 may have to wait a little longer than expected. It had been thought that the next major reboot of the iPhone concept could be released next year, but Apple fans may instead be forced to wait until 2019 for the next iPhone revolution.
iPhone 8 – New approach
It seems that Apple is reconsidering its entire approach to the iPhone range, and with the marketplace for smartphones already saturated, will only release a major new concept every three years from now on. Certainly there are diminishing returns in the smartphone market place technologically, and sales of iPhone devices are predicted to reduce on a year-on-year basis for the first time in 2016.
This has led the Californian consumer electronics giant to conclude that it will be poorly served by releasing an iPhone 8 next year. Apple will instead alter the release pattern of major smartphone device to every three years, suggesting that we won’t see major changes to the iPhone until 2019. In the intervening period, it is suggested that Apple will offer special edition models of the iPhone 7 in order to freshen up the device and keep up with latest trends in the marketplace.
It must be emphasized at this juncture that this is only based on rumors, and the supposition could turn out to be completely misguided. Apple news and views are exchanged at an extremely rapid rate, and not all of the predictions of even the most respected analysts ultimately come to fruition.
Stagnating marketplace
But Apple must surely rethink its strategy with regard to the iPhone considering that the smartphone marketplace is clearly stagnating. Even the corporation itself has predicted that it will sell fewer iPhones in 2016 than 2015, and this will be the first time that this has occurred in the entire lifecycle of the smartphone, since it first appeared in 2007.
As a response to this apparent intention of Apple, the share price of the company has once again receded, with the city obviously anticipating that a reduction in sales of the iPhone will be extremely bad for Apple. The consumer electronics giant continues to be hugely reliant on the iPhone for revenue generation, and thus investors are unlikely to be impressed by the possibility of the iPhone 8 being delayed until 2019.
Additionally, Apple analysts had already concluded that Apple would experience a massive increase in sales in 2017 as a result of the iPhone 8 being released. This would have been a very welcome increase in sales for the Cupertino-based corporation, and would almost certainly have resulted in a significant surge in the share price of the company.
Analyst optimism
Nonetheless, it could be that the iPhone 8 ultimately materializes in 2017 anyway, and this will be largely dependent on trends in the smartphone industry and the performance of Apple in the intervening period. Some city analysts are optimistic about the short-term potential of Apple based on technological trends. R.W. Baird’s William Power predicts that Apple should receive an immediate price target of $115, with news related to semiconductor trends in Asia apparently excellent for Apple going forward.
Thus, it is predicted by Power that there will be an increase in production of the iPhone in the 2017 fiscal year, resulting in a 5.6 percent rise in the number of iPhone units sold. With Apple predicting that it will shift less iPhone units in the 2016 calendar year than in the previous 12-month period, this would represent a significant shift in the 2017 climate. However, Power believes that Apple is due to bounce back from some of the troubling financial data it has been forced to endure recently.
Notably, Power believes that the release of an iPhone 8 in 2017 will be essential in building hype for the smartphone range, and that this will then carry forward into improved financial performance for the consumer electronics behemoth. It is interesting to note the contrasting opinions of analysts, but certainly Apple fans will hope that Power is correct, and that Apple will significantly reboot the iPhone concept in 2017 with a major iPhone 8 release.
Glass and curved design
Other reports this week indicate that Apple may consider significantly redesigning the iPhone 8 when it hits the stores. These murmurings are consistent with a 2017 release date for the iPhone 8, and it is believed that Apple is considering an all glass design for this smartphone contender.
Even more intriguing is that Apple is toying internally with producing a dual-curved display for the iPhone 8, finally following the example of Samsung, which has become almost intrinsically associated with this technology. It is known that Apple has already patented its own curved display system, and it is now suggested that this could finally see the light of day next year.
And this latest information on the iPhone 8 has emanated from an extremely reputable source. IHS Technology’s director of market research Kevin Wang is credited with the information in question, and Wang also makes other suggestions about the 2016 iPhone release. The analyst believes that Apple will double the storage capacity of the iPhone 7, and even asserts that official sources have confirmed this privately.
Other sources have also confirmed the glass and curved rumors, with Allen Horng, chairman and chief executive of Catcher Technology, which currently manufactures the aluminum body of the iPhone, suggesting to media in Asia that the forthcoming iPhone 8 will be instructed from glass, and that this be extremely expensive to produce.
“Glass casing still needs a durable metal frame which requires advanced processing technology and would not be cheaper than the current model,” Horng noted at Catcher Technology’s annual shareholder meeting. Interestingly, it was also suggested that only one model of the iPhone 8 would ultimately benefit from this technology.
So there are conflicting messages emerging with regard to the iPhone 8, and Apple fans will need to keep their ears close to the ground to find out the situation with the smartphone in the coming months.
