Apple iPhone 6 may not launch this year: Analyst

As is the case with all Apple products, there has been a fair share of buzz surrounding the rumoured iPhone 6 even before it has been officially announced.

The latest buzz comes from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, who, as per a MacRumours report does not think that the device will be launched before the middle of next year. Misek explains that issues like display yield, among other things will make its launch this year ‘unlikely’. Interestingly though, rumours also suggest that Apple may be able to launch an iPhone 5s and a lower-cost iPhone in the middle of this year. 

Misek was quoted as saying, “We see three possible bottlenecks for the iPhone that could contribute to lower yields (and hence higher costs) and/or a delayed launch. 

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iPhone 6 launch unlikely this year, says analyst

- App processor production at 20nm. Apple’s current iPhone app processor is on 32nm. For the iPhone 6 we think Apple will likely skip over 28nm and go to 20nm to facilitate adding more cores (4 or even 8). While TSMC is targeting a 2014 ramp in its 20nm production we think that issues like double patterning could make it a more complicated transition than the 28nm ramp, which had its own substantial ramp and yield issues. 

- Display shifting from in-cell LCD to on-cell OLED or IGZO. We think in- cell is having difficulty ramping to 4.8”, which is making Apple look at switching to on-cell (a different integrated touchscreen technology) and OLED (despite Apple’s suppliers being well behind Samsung in their OLED capabilities) or IGZO. 

- Revamped OS. We think Apple plans to re-architect iOS to utilize more cores and better compete with Samsung. Also, we believe the way iOS interoperates with iCloud, gestures controls, and advertising will be substantially upgraded.”

In December last year, Misek had stated that there were several prototypes of the iPhone 6 and he has noted that the most interesting one is the handset which features a 4.8-inch Retina+ IGZO display, new A7 quad-core processor and no home button. He also feels there is a huge possibility that it could feature full gesture control.

At the time too, Misek stated that the iPhone 5S could be launched in June or July. Misek stated that the iPhone 5S will be launched in six to eight different colour options. This prediction could turn out to be true as some of Apple’s rival’s such as Samsung and Nokia release smartphones in a variety of colour options. Apple too has recently released the new 4-inch iPod touch in 6 colour options. 

Apart from the launch date and the availability of the smartphone in different colours, Misek also stated that the iPhone 5S will come loaded with improved specifications such as super HD camera and an IGZO Retina+ screen, an improved battery and Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology. The last feature was expected to be featured in the iPhone 5, but Apple did not add it; hence, it makes sense if the brand adds it with the upcoming model. Another possible inclusion in the upcoming iPhone 5S is that Apple could throw in more storage and launch the handset with 128GB of internal storage.