You wait months for a new generation of iPhone, and then two come along together! That’s the speculation anyway, and it’s coming from Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitemore who believes Apple will release two new iPhones in September.
September is looking more and more a near-certainty for the launch of the next iPhone, but if what Whitemore is saying is true we will have the choice between two different iPhones.
Whitemore expects the “4S” iPhone to be a modest upgrade to be sold contract free and on the cheap while the the iPhone “5” will be a full upgrade.
“With Nokia and RIMM struggling, the time is right for Apple to aggressively penetrate the mid range smart-phone market (i.e. $300-500 category) to dramatically expand its [total addressable market] and market share.”
A contract free 4S iPhone model would be an attractive offer for those that do not want to sign up to multi year contracts with a specific carrier. Whitemore speculates that the price point for a 4S model would be in the region of a once off payment of $349.
While Whitemore didn’t quote any insider knowledge from an Apple source, a second iPhone model is quite an intriguing prospect and it would be a brave move by Apple.
Do they risk introducing a second new iPhone and run the risk of fragmenting their SmartPhone market or do they turn the heat on the low-end SmartPhone market by making the iPhone 4S an affordable choice ahead of Android and Blackberry SmartPhones?
What do you think?