A new report into the potential future hardware plans of Apple is suggesting that the Cupertino-based company is planning on doing away with its historical 12-month release cycle for the iPhone 7. A “reliable” source, who presumably has some level of insider knowledge pertaining to Apple’s plans, is claiming that the company intends to complete the design, development, and mass manufacture of the upcoming iPhone 7 ahead of its own initial schedule in order to capitalize on a captive market that’s yearning for a new redesigned iPhone.
Apple has historically stuck to the same release cycle over the years. A new version of iOS is introduced and released in beta as part of the keynote speech at the annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which happens in June. And then the first device to ship with that final version of iOS, which is the new iPhone, generally gets announced in September with a view to being made officially available for sale later that month, or October at the very latest. However the source claims all of that is about to change, starting with the iPhone 7 in early 2016.
If the suggestion turns out to be true, and let’s not forget here that we actually hear this type of speculation every twelve months or so around this time, then iPhone fans can expect to see the iPhone 7 unveiled a lot earlier than expected with a view to it actually being available to purchase this coming summer. The source appears to be suggesting that investors have been a little concerned by the fact that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus handsets were simply “upgrades” of the previous model, rather than redesigns, and could lead to relatively shorter product cycle of the handset:
This year’s iPhone 6s upgrade features largely the same external design as the iPhone 6. That has prompted concerns among investors that demand for the iPhone 6s could wane, particularly toward the tail end of the product cycle, as consumers await a new-look “iPhone 7” next year.
Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities recently published a note suggesting that Apple would be introducing its new 4-inch iPhone model in the first quarter of 2016; a device that was talked about consistently a few months ago. In the same report, Kuo also mentioned that Apple would be releasing iPhone 7 with 3GB of RAM in the usual, third quarter of 2016.
Only time will tell whether Apple will release the new iPhone in September as Kuo said, or slightly earlier as this new report suggests.
(Via: AppleInsider)
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