iPhone 5 Release Date: 2 Apple Smartphones to Launch Imminently?
Apple fans are waiting in great anticipation for the launch of the company’s next generation iPhone. Monday’s announcement by industry watchers is likely to generate double excitement as it was touted that two devices may be rolled out imminently; the iPhone 5 and the “iPhone 4 Plus.”
Analyst Mark Moskowitz with JP Morgan said on Monday that the next "iPhone 5" will be a "world phone" with both GSM and CDMA cellular support. However, he also stated that there would be no support for 4G, and a "lighter, thinner form factor."
He indicated that recent rumors are true that the iPhone 5 would be accompanied by another device aimed at downscaled markets.
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Moskowitz told clients: "A second device based on the current iPhone 4 but with some minor improvements could target the midrange and focus on China. As for the current iPhone 4, we expect it to subsume 3GS as the lower-end offering."
The double release would allow Apple to tap into the huge China market without the premium shock.
"If penetrated, China Mobile and China Telecom with approximately 600 million and 100 million subscribers, alongside Sprint and T-Mobile USA with 52 million and 33 million subscribers, stand to have an effect tantamount to the big increase in the number of carriers exhibited in the June quarter," he said. "We would expect such a big bang if Apple introduces two new iPhones this fall and penetrates the untapped U.S. and China carriers."
