If Apple follows its usual schedule, the iPhone 5S will hit the market in the middle of the year. But there’s a wrinkle: speculation has it the company will also release a cheaper iPhone at the same time.
The question is whether the company will actually go downmarket. What the pundits forget is that Apple already sells a cheaper iPhone in many markets – it’s the iPhone 4S, and for many people, the 4S is a pretty good phone made better by the fact it can run all of the apps in the app store, and Apple will continue offering operating system upgrades for it for the next two years at least.
If Apple does offer a cheaper iPhone, how can the company make it better than a 4S, but cost less? The 4S already uses an older processor, but it’s made of high grade – glass and aluminium – materials. To go cheaper, Apple would have to offer the same old 4S processor with a body made out of plastic, rather than the premium materials it already offers. And the question is, Apple being a premium company, and all, whether it would be willing to do this.
We’re willing to wear egg on our faces, but CRN’s opinion is that Apple won’t go down-market in terms of materials. Part of the joy of an Apple product is its premium feel, and outstanding build quality. It’s in those two areas its rivals still can’t touch the Cupertino company.
A good example is the iPad mini. It is still premium in terms of materials, but it uses a non-retina display to hold costs down. If Apple does go down market with a cheaper iPhone, look for it to cut costs in areas people don’t really care about.
The flipside is the retina display has been on the market for a few years already, and the company should be getting great yields – and excellent costs – from its suppliers. We’re not going to annoy you by telling you to “watch this space” but if Apple does go cheap – or inexpensive – then it will do it in a way that appeals to the core market.
iPhone 5S
And what of the 5S? Here’s what we know: the form factor simply won’t change. Apple’s been on the two year cycle since the 3GS, and we don’t expect that to change.
What will change is some basic specs – look for a 12 megapixel camera, perhaps a kick in screen resolution, and perhaps even a move to the A7 processor.
It’s also possible Apple will offer a 128 gigabyte version (for all the storage junkies out there) as it has done with the iPad. But we’re undecided on that count. Cloud computing, and in particular iCloud, has made it easy to have your media on any Apple device you own. The only mitigating factor is your wireless plan, and how much streaming you think you’ll do.
There are also rumours Apple will offer wireless charging – a’la some of Nokia’s recent offerings – with the 5S. All we can say about that is it better be a better solution than clipping a charging adaptor onto the phone itself. With Nokia, the adaptors are clunky and, well, we all love our Apple products being as svelte as possible
The other rumour is a fingerprint reader. Apple bought a fingerprint recognition company recently, so expect the tech to show up at some point. But honestly? It’s tech for a major version change, not an iterative update like the 5S.
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