It took Apple a while to make the 3.5-inch iPhone any bigger, taking it to 4 inches with the launch of the iPhone 5. Last year, it finally caved to the pressure from fans and rivals and went all-in on large screens, releasing the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch 6 Plus.
The handsets were an instant hit and provided Apple with record-breaking sales. Not everyone was impressed though and some have called for the return of a smaller, pocket-sized option.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst from KGI Securities, that is exactly what will happen. Kuo thinks Apple will be releasing “an upgraded iPhone 5S” that has a 4-inch display, 2GB of RAM and Apple’s A9 processor, currently used in the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The replacements for those handsets will get the more powerful A10 chip and the name for the smaller device remains unknown.
Another uncertainty is what the phone will look like. Apple could return to the colourful plastic of the iPhone 5C, use a metal design similar to that of the 5S the phone is apparently based on, or downsize the body of the iPhone 7. Kuo says that the phone won’t feature Apple’s 3D Touch pressure-sensing display technology, as that kind of feature is strictly reserved for the flagships.
Kuo expects the 4-inch iPhone to be launched at some point in the first half of 2016 in a separate release to the iPhone 7. That will retain its predictable September announcement, giving Apple two separate iPhone events next year.
It should be remembered that this is all speculation until otherwise confirmed by Apple. Kuo, however, does have a strong track record for predicting Apple’s plans. He correctly revealed the existence of the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones, 12-inch Macbook and Apple Watch sizes months ahead of their releases so it’s certainly possible he’ll prove to be correct again in the future.
Kuo thinks Apple may be able to sell 20 to 30 million four-inch iPhones in 2016, substantially less than the number of 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch devices it ships each quarter. In the three months to July this year, the company sold 48 million handsets before managing to claim 13 million sales of the iPhone 6S-series in the first weekend of availability this September.
