Ming-Chi Kuo is at it again. Following the first bad news surrounding
Obtained by 9to5Mac, Kuo revealed mass production of the new flagship phone (variously reported as the iPhone 7S, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone Edition and simply ‘iPhone’) will be pushed back several months.
Instead of an August/September timeframe, Kuo claims the launch could be as late as November. He says this will hurt Apple’s 2017 calendar year figures as historically iPhone customers are known for delaying upgrades in the run up to the launch of a new model. He also points out that this leaves Apple exposed for longer against Samsung’s popular (and virtually bezel-less) Galaxy S8.
Read more - Galaxy S8 Review: Samsung Spoils Perfection
But there’s also good news. Kuo says the reason for the delay is due to “significant hardware upgrades”. These include a switch from an LCD display to OLED, a major design change, potential elimination of the Home button and heavily upgraded cameras. This could put to bed talk Apple would prefer to release a dull Plan B iPhone rather than ship late.
As such the wait for the iPhone 7S / iPhone 8 / iPhone X / iPhone Edition / iPhone (let’s hope the name is confirmed soon!) could well be worth it. Furthermore Kuo says incrementally upgraded versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will arrive on time, even if they are going to be seen as sideshows to the main event.
Samsung really has put down a marker for Apple with the brilliant Galaxy S8, and will follow this up with a redesigned Galaxy Note 8 in August while Google will launch the hotly anticipated Pixel 2 in October. So Apple really needs to up its game this year. Thankfully all signs suggest it will...
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