“For the iPhone’s 10th birthday, Apple Inc. is giving itself a big new challenge,” Tripp Mickle writes for The Wall Street Journal. “Maintaining its usual secrecy about product plans, Apple is widely expect later this year to announce three iPhones instead of the usual two—updated versions of the current iPhone 7 and 7 Plus as well as a 10th-anniversary iPhone with a different display and new features like wireless charging and facial-recognition technology.”
“Such devices would make an attractive purchase for customers disappointed with the relatively incremental improvements of recent smartphones,” Mickle writes. “But analysts say that such a plan also has big risks for Apple, including the possibility of a higher price tag that could dampen demand, trickier manufacturing requirements and the added complexity of forecasting and marketing a third model.”
“Challenges with some upcoming iPhone hardware features have stoked concerns about potential for delays this year specifically for the 10th-anniversary handset. Several analysts say they expect it to be several weeks late because of challenges related to a new type of fingerprint-verification technology. Apple also is running into problems with a lamination process during the device’s assembly, multiple analysts have reported,” Mickle writes. “‘If they lose just one week, that’s big numbers in terms of volume and a lot of revenue and a lot of angst,’ Dan Panzica, a supply-chain analyst at IHS Markit who follows Apple closely.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: More ginned-up faux “concern.” Apple and the iPhone will be just fine, as usual.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “Dan K.,” and “David E.” for the heads up.]
There will be a lot of angst but there will not be loss of revenue. It’ll just be the same revenue later. What Apple doesn’t earn today, they’ll earn next week to make up what they didn’t earn. No one who waits for the iPhone 10th anniversary edition is going to settle for the likes of explodesung galaxy fire 8 or NOTe 7 or 8 or whatever.
Are these the same analysts who criticise Apple for producing uninspiring updates or a general lack of innovation?
No, per Betteridge’s Law.
Those anals are changing narrative now.
Anals will always be anals!
And boy do they understand that talking about Apple brings in the clicks!
Damn fools!
Talk about a special tenth anniversary phone is just hype. Apple makes the best phone it can every year, and any anniversary item will be like the anniversary Mac: Just a loaded machine with a giant price tag for the A list. The usual line will be the usual intelligent balance of cost effective features.
Are bloggers and analysts over-analyzing Apple’s unconfirmed, unreleased, non-products? YES!!!
I have feeling some of these people fear job security and relevancy. Honestly, how many articles can be written about a product that does not exist? Yes, I agree it’s fun to speculate on what might be coming, but to stretch that interest into an actual product that’s facing production issues, is just a clear sign that these people have too much time on their hands – or are severely lacking in other interests to write about.
“Is Apple trying to do too much with the tenth anniversary iPhone?” – A valid question after we find out what the tenth anniversary iPhone is. But asking now, when we know nothing, is just chasing clicks.
It would be extremely unlike Apple to release an iPhone 7S, 7S plus, and an iPhone Pro. Who knows, that might prompt them to release a MacBook and MacBook Pro, or an iPad and iPad Pro. How could they ever rationalize such a move?
Broken Record. Play it again Sam. Rinse and Repeat. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again…
This is becoming the local news reporting the first snowfall of the season, groundhog day or any other cyclical event.
“Oh, iPhone is coming. Better start throwing rumors against the wall – great link-bait.”
MacDailyNews says it well – iPhone will be just fine.
All the pretend late hype and speculation works for CNN…why not Anal-ists? As soon as one iPhone is released, there is already next years prototype in hand in some test form factor.
If Apple is not one year ahead by time September rolls around, they’re in trouble. I hope Cook learned his lesson announcing the iMac way earlier than it shipped early in his CEO a few years ago. Apple should be early and never late if they are truly prepared. People mostly react to Headline titles, so expect to see a bunch of them in the next few months with AAPL reacting accordingly…based on years past. The same people who believe CNN are the same that react emotionally to iPhone headlines.
The iPhone 8 is being treated as a ‘next generation’, or second generation device project.
Note that there is a concern with the second version of any project whereby it becomes bloated with features. This results in reevaluation, delay, heated re-reevaluation, more delay, removal, re-adding, ad nauseam, and further delay.
I could entirely believe mythical iPhone 8 could be late and buggy. Happily, Apple has a very long history of dealing with second project issues and how to trim the fat.
However, the mythology of the iPhone 8 points out a few new added technologies that in and of themselves will undoubted have First Project kinks and bugs to work out in their production. First Project problems are far less under control and may well lead to serious delays. We shall see!
Remember, all of this rumor mongering is only rumor. Cattle get scared of shadows. Don’t be a cow.
Tim Cook never tries too much.