Budget-priced, my arse
'The next Apple iPhone won't be a larger handset, but rather a budget-priced miniature model...'
In your dreams.
The next Apple iPhone won't be a larger handset, but rather a budget-priced miniature model, according to industry analysts. A note from Zacks Equity Research suggests that the Cupertino giant is readying a lower-priced, 4-inch version of the iPhone 6 for release next year. Target sales for such a phone, Zacks reckons, are a …
>They are working on a smaller version so that they can extend the life of the 5S and include NFC so that Applepay is available to more at a cheaper price
... a key-fob with BT ear-piece/mic + 'print reader, and just enough smarts to 'pay and (dis)play'? Roughly between the iPod nano and the Watch.
I have an iPhone 5 and won't upgrade to a 6 because it is to big. What I want is a smaller phone, the 4 had the right size screen, the five is to big. How is one with the screen The size of the five a 'mini'? It is to big, give us a phone size phone, I have an iPad for a large screen.
It does remind me of Apple before Jobs returned though, too many products and not enough focus.
What I'm hoping for is that they will release a 6s this year, as in 6small. Then next year a 7 and 7+ (or maybe 7L ?) Then the year after a 7s. That way, they can keep selling the large phones to those who want them, every other year at the end of their 2 year contracts, and similarly, those who brought a 5s and might be starting to think about upgrading in a few months but don't want to supersize still have an apple upgrade option, and will do again in 24 months time.
You don't have to buy the latest model every year, and I suspect most people don't. However, when they do buy a new phone, they probably do want to buy the latest model, or have last year's model as the budget option.
So no, I don't think that would be a good idea. Next year, people who want to buy a phablet would have the option of last years iPhone 6+, or the Galaxy Note 5.
Apple will deliver a phone for (at least) twice the price and half the spec of the moto G and have some eye watering contract prices. I managed to get a Moto G (2014) on Amazon's yo-yo pricing for £129. Coupled with a 12 mth £5 sim that gives 500 talk, unlimited texts and 1gb data that's damn cheap mobile costs.
Reuters, 31 December 2030 - Analysts are predicting the launch of the smallest iphone in years, a bold innovation that will likely challenge conventional wisdom about mobile phones and revolutionise the market. The tiny newcomer is said to have a screen of only 40" and can be carried by 2 men (though why would any man want to carry a mobile phone, is anyone's guess) or a single phone carrier robot, as opposed to current 70-80" models, which require a team of the expensive phone carrying robots. There are many who doubt whether the smaller screen size will catch on, given the limitations that it places on applications and video. But that's no reason to block innovation, which must continue if mankind is to truly progress.
Mobile phones will be carried by corporate/state provided drones that watch over everything we do. It seems weird to us now to accept such intrusion but the added convenience of having your entire life recorded and available for upload to Facebook.gov is just too large to ignore. It also takes snippets of your conversations and posts them to twitter. As the algorithm only takes the most pithy or intelligent bits it makes you look great and have loads of followers and likes. You may recoil at the thought now, but that's because you're one of those luddite millenials.
"A recent report from analytics firm Flurry placed small-screen phones at just 2 per cent of new devices activated during the Christmas week."
Is it however chicken and egg...
Has the lack of small screen models (I can't name one) driven the lack of activations?
Like so many others, I've stayed with the iPhone 5 as I find the size just fits my pockets, and there doesn't seem to be much in the Android or Windows lines that's getting smaller either. Maybe there isn't a market, or maybe there is a market and nothing to fill it...
Probably - also I wonder if Xmas sales are a good sample, it's time for cash-strapped gadget addicts (the others already got the new models...) and 'children' presents.
In the current lineup of models from several top brands, there's really nothing I would buy unless forced to. All models are too large to fit a pocket comfortably. I'm not interested too in a model to watch videos (my tablet is better to watch movies) nor playing games (the ones I like are too complex for a phone and require a PC). A 4" phone is ok for me, even if it's not very thin.
And I ironically recall when in 2002 I bought my first smartphone, one of the main 'complains' dumbphone users used to dismiss my then unfashionable choice, was 'how could you carry along a so large phone?' - it was about the size of a sub 4" one. Now the same people drool over 6" ones.... power of marketing.
Agree 100%. If you want a 4in or sub 4in screen your choice is a landfill Chinese Android or a "compact" model with no power, no memory and all the bloat of the full fat version. I'm surprised 2% found a suitable phone. I'm currently using a Moto G 4G, not for the 4G but for the smaller screen (4.5in) and SD card. If I could dump KitKat and find a version of Android 4.2 or 4.3 for it I'd almost be a happy man.
If Apple do invent a small screen smart phone, the iPhone 6-, (and remember, to have invented something you don't need to bring it to market first) then small smart phones are always what the market wanted and I always knew that.
If they don't then I truly believe that the iPhone 6 and 6+ are both simultaneously perfect and I always knew that too.
what the hell happened the phone form factor? where is my modern 8310? tablets can browse the web, I just want a small phone with a half decent camera and reasonable music player. also, why doesn't the Google keyboard want to auto capitalise sentences in this text box?
It's not that I couldn't afford a 6 or 6 Plus.
(As my employer pays the contract and almost all associated costs, it's just the cost of the phone itself for me)
I just don't feel that I *really* want a bigger phone than the 4S I have.
I could live with a 5S/5C size phone.
If a new 4" phone from Apple emerges, it will indeed be interesting to see the price point.
However, I'd say that Apple-customers aren't that price-sensitive.
Not to say that Apple could charge anything.
Since joining the smartphone set, I've always had either an Android or a Windows Phone, but that was partially driven by cost: iPhones are a quality piece of kit but never felt that one would offer me much more than my trusty Nexus 4 or Nokia 520.
As much as I prefer a mobe with a larger screen, I was disapointed when Apple dropped the iPhone 4 form-factor and brought out the lanky 5. There was something about the 4 that was just right, and if they could have improved the keyboard (by adding swipe input for example), then it could have remained an awesome bit of kit.
An iPhone-obsessed friend of mine has recently bought a 6+ and has correspondingly ditched their iPad Mini, so perhaps a premium, compact iPhone is an attempt to appease those who want a compact package whilst ensuring people keep their Phone/Pad combo.
I think it would make sense.