“Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo at KGI Securities has today issued a new note in which he says that Apple will entirely revamp its iPhone lineup come 2017,” Chance Miller reports for 9to5Mac. “According to Kuo, Apple in 2017 will release a new iPhone with glass casing and an AMOLED display. This somewhat contradicts an earlier note from the analyst that said Apple was aiming for an AMOLED iPhone by 2018.”
“More specifically, Kuo believes that Apple will decide between glass, plastic, and ceramic casing for its 2017 iPhone, but that the company will ultimately settle on glass,” Miller reports, “much like the iPhone 4, ‘as plastic doesn’t offer thin and light form factor designs, and it would be not easy to precisely control the tolerance of ceramic.'”
“As rumored in the past, KGI also believes that Apple will introduce a new 5.8-inch iPhone in 2017 with an AMOLED display,” Miller reports. “Despite the larger display, however, the device will feature a form factor that is ultimately smaller than the current 5.5-inch iPhone.”
The iPhone 4 was the worst iPhone Apple ever made. It was SO heavy! And glass has a very strong tendency to break when dropped. Really not a good idea. I find it hard to believe that they would go back to a glass back. And OLED uses TONS of battery if the background is not black. That’s why Androids GUIs are always white text on a black background (and so is the Apple Watch for that matter- but there it looks good). I hope this rumor is VERY wrong…
Bullshit. My iPhone 4 was just fine, and I only replaced it when Apple dropped support and I wanted to switch carriers. I’d sure rather be carrying that size in my shirt pocket than my 6 Plus. Don’t get your panties in a bunch over a made up scenario, and try getting off your ass and get some exercise if a little phone like that is too much for you to lift.
It did require the use of Apple’s bumper (or a case). But with the bumper it was still beautiful to look at and hold.
After a few years with a bumper, I decided to try it without. Unfortunately it only lasted another several months before it suffered a less-than-3-foot fall and shattered.
For many people the iPhone 4 was the ideal design, made even better by the 4s iteration. Elegant. Easy one-handed operation. Slips into any pocket with ease. Stands on end for group photo. Still gets iOS updates. Still owned by a large number of phablet haters, counting down to March 31, when they will leap at the upgrade to iPhone SE, trading their cozy 3.5 inch screen for the brave new world of 4 inches, Apple Pay, and beyond to the stars.
I doubt one will see either the same look or the same type of glass as the iPhone 4. It will be very thin and super sleek. A totally black iPhone would be a thing of beauty. As for the display, if Apple adopts OLED, it will be greatly advanced over what is available on phones today.
Difficult to take this seriously when it claims they were considering plastic. I think I would truly lose faith, as I think would half its customers if plastic was to suddenly appear on its primary phones, when the opposition have mostly moved to metal at the high end to try to compete.
This is the best I could hope for. Not looking for a larger display, but any imrovement towards total size reduction AND a larger display is an instant winner. I hope this won’t mean another $100 tacked on to the starting price.
A little bit of a stretch on the prediction front, almost 18 months out.
‘Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo..’ You mean the secretive analyst who pays Asian supply chain moles that have no integrity and do not abide by the non disclosures that they signed.
Not exactly exciting news is it? A change in design, yawn. Been a while since I’ve seen anything from the Apple stables that has me reaching for the plastic. Just seems to be another yearly upgrade to this and that. iPhone 6s does 4K video, iMac screen does 5K but the apply TV 4 does only HD, what happened to everything just working and that Apple environment of all things complementing each other? I’m losing the faith, I need inspiration, I need to believe again. I’m even considering replacing my 4 ATV 3’s with Amazon Fire TVs (eek), they are faster, cheaper, do 4K and AirPlay and stream from a NAS, come on Apple stop the rot.
I have to point out that “reliable” Ming-Chi is, in actuality, just a good guesser. News sites like MDN tend to gloss over how often he *changes* his predictions, and how often the *details* of them are wrong.
Credit where it’s due, he called the iPhone 5 form factor of the iPhone SE correctly. But he got the internals, display, connectors, price, AND NAME wrong. This is actually pretty typical of his predictions, which change in the details a lot as we get closer to the event.
It’s fair to say he has a better track record that most analysts, but that’s only because most analysts just make stuff up outright. Stop giving this guy the “oracle” credit he doesn’t actually deserve.
Would the 2017 “model year” mean 2016 debut?
The iPhone 4 was the worst iPhone Apple ever made. It was SO heavy! And glass has a very strong tendency to break when dropped. Really not a good idea. I find it hard to believe that they would go back to a glass back. And OLED uses TONS of battery if the background is not black. That’s why Androids GUIs are always white text on a black background (and so is the Apple Watch for that matter- but there it looks good). I hope this rumor is VERY wrong…
Bullshit. My iPhone 4 was just fine, and I only replaced it when Apple dropped support and I wanted to switch carriers. I’d sure rather be carrying that size in my shirt pocket than my 6 Plus. Don’t get your panties in a bunch over a made up scenario, and try getting off your ass and get some exercise if a little phone like that is too much for you to lift.
iPhone 4/4s was my favourite design.
It did require the use of Apple’s bumper (or a case). But with the bumper it was still beautiful to look at and hold.
After a few years with a bumper, I decided to try it without. Unfortunately it only lasted another several months before it suffered a less-than-3-foot fall and shattered.
(Still, it’s was only $100 to fix).
For many people the iPhone 4 was the ideal design, made even better by the 4s iteration. Elegant. Easy one-handed operation. Slips into any pocket with ease. Stands on end for group photo. Still gets iOS updates. Still owned by a large number of phablet haters, counting down to March 31, when they will leap at the upgrade to iPhone SE, trading their cozy 3.5 inch screen for the brave new world of 4 inches, Apple Pay, and beyond to the stars.
I don’t understand. Why would the phones APPLE introduces in 2017 look like the iPhone 4? What are the advantages?
I doubt one will see either the same look or the same type of glass as the iPhone 4. It will be very thin and super sleek. A totally black iPhone would be a thing of beauty. As for the display, if Apple adopts OLED, it will be greatly advanced over what is available on phones today.
“A totally black iPhone would be a thing of beauty.”
It is a thing of beauty. I have just that, the iPhone 5. Where you been?
Everything is becoming right again. My thumb’s tired.
Difficult to take this seriously when it claims they were considering plastic. I think I would truly lose faith, as I think would half its customers if plastic was to suddenly appear on its primary phones, when the opposition have mostly moved to metal at the high end to try to compete.
👍👍
This is the best I could hope for. Not looking for a larger display, but any imrovement towards total size reduction AND a larger display is an instant winner. I hope this won’t mean another $100 tacked on to the starting price.
A little bit of a stretch on the prediction front, almost 18 months out.
BS Rumors to kill buzz for iphone 7…
Lowlife competition tactics again..
Now Kuo is skipping a year in his forcasts?
KGI Securities wants some more churn in the stock market!
Exactly, it’s a rumor folks.
Apple seems to be copying Samsung a lot lately.
Yes, and the earth is flat. Right?
‘Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo..’ You mean the secretive analyst who pays Asian supply chain moles that have no integrity and do not abide by the non disclosures that they signed.
That Ming-Chi Kuo?
I loved the design of the iPhone 4 and 4s. I would have no problem with this.
Not exactly exciting news is it? A change in design, yawn. Been a while since I’ve seen anything from the Apple stables that has me reaching for the plastic. Just seems to be another yearly upgrade to this and that. iPhone 6s does 4K video, iMac screen does 5K but the apply TV 4 does only HD, what happened to everything just working and that Apple environment of all things complementing each other? I’m losing the faith, I need inspiration, I need to believe again. I’m even considering replacing my 4 ATV 3’s with Amazon Fire TVs (eek), they are faster, cheaper, do 4K and AirPlay and stream from a NAS, come on Apple stop the rot.
I have to point out that “reliable” Ming-Chi is, in actuality, just a good guesser. News sites like MDN tend to gloss over how often he *changes* his predictions, and how often the *details* of them are wrong.
Credit where it’s due, he called the iPhone 5 form factor of the iPhone SE correctly. But he got the internals, display, connectors, price, AND NAME wrong. This is actually pretty typical of his predictions, which change in the details a lot as we get closer to the event.
It’s fair to say he has a better track record that most analysts, but that’s only because most analysts just make stuff up outright. Stop giving this guy the “oracle” credit he doesn’t actually deserve.