iPhone 6: Price fears lead to shares downgrade
APPLE will try to crack the "phablet" market by releasing a new iPhone with a five-inch screen as early as May next year, the tech website BGR reports - but analysts and investors have given the plans an unenthusiastic response.
The release of the jumbo iPhone 6 so soon after the debut of the iPhone 5s seems "improbable", BGR admits. But reliable sources in the company's supply chain say the device - which will be fitted with a 20 nanometer processor manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company - is definitely on the way.
Concern about the cost of producing the new iPhone led analysts at Wells Fargo to downgrade Apple shares from "outperform" to "market perform" yesterday.
The company "sees issues for Apple with the prospective iPhone 6 coming later this year, which will need new, more expensive components," The Register reports. iPhone 6: Price fears lead to shares downgrade That will result in narrower profit margins unless Apple can pass on the full cost of new components to customers, which in turn would be likely to hurt sales.
Apple shares closed yesterday at $553.13, a fall of 1.4 per cent.
One factor that will drive up the production cost is the iPhone 6's larger screen. BGR says it will be big, but not as big as 'phablets' such as Samsung's Galaxy Note 3.
"Releasing a device with a larger display is an interesting move for Apple because it will be a rare instance where the company will be following rival Samsung, which first sparked the phablet craze back in 2012 with its original Galaxy Note," BGR says. "It would be rare to see Apple release a new version of the iPhone so close to the release of its latest iPhone 5s, but maybe the company doesn't want to wait much longer to put out a device with a larger form factor."
Apple is also believed to be readying a larger version of its iPad tablet for a 2014 release, according to digitimes. The 12.9-inch device will go on sale in October next year and is aimed at "North America's educational market", according to sources. The plus-size tablet will be manufactured by Quanta Computer.
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