Analysts praise Apple’s new 5G iPhone lineup for lower prices, new design

Wall Street analysts were won over by Apple’s newest 5G iPhone family that were unveiled on Tuesday, thanks to lower prices and a major design overhaul, fueling expectations of a new super cycle of sales growth for the world’s most valuable company.

Mark Gurman and Jeran Wittenstein for Bloomberg:

At a virtual event on Tuesday, the company showed off the iPhone 12 in black, red, blue, green and white with a 6.1-inch screen, part of the biggest re-design of Apple’s signature device in three years. It starts at $799 but a smaller version, the iPhone 12 mini, costs $699.

Analysts praised a pricing strategy that may entice users with older, smaller iPhones to upgrade. They were also bullish on Apple’s ability to take on rivals like Huawei Technologies Co. in China, the world’s largest smartphone arena, where 5G networks are considerably more built-out than in Europe and the U.S.

“With our estimation that 350 million of 950 million iPhones worldwide are currently in the window of an upgrade opportunity, we believe this will translate into an unprecedented upgrade cycle for Apple,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said.

“iPhone 12 mini hits the magic $699 price point,” longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster wrote on Twitter. “That’s a big deal and slightly expands iPhone’s addressable market. This is the first time in 7 years (iPhone 5S) that smaller form factor is part of flagship lineup.”

MacDailyNews Take: With the iPhone design finally changing after years of round-edged iPhones and back to the updated classic design first seen with the seminal iPhone 4, people will know the difference between those with 5G iPhones vs. older iPhones at a glance.

Never underestimate the lure of having the latest and greatest!

Apple would sell even more iPhones if they noticeably changed the iPhone exterior design annually.