Apple to Launch 6.1-Inch iPhone with Dual-SIM Support For as Low as $550 USD: KGI

Apple’s upcoming iPhone X refresh could include a much cheaper handset with a price around half as much as the current flagship smartphone.

Apple is rumored to release three new iPhone flagships later this year: two with OLED displays and one with an LCD display. An analyst believes that the 6.1-inch 2018 LCD iPhone could cost as low as $550 USD and it may arrive with single-SIM and dual-SIM dual standby (DSDS) models.

The prediction comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who recently shared a research notes to investors (via MacRumors). Kuo said on his note that the single-SIM variant of the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone could sell for between $550 and $650 USD, while the dual-SIM model could cost between $650 to $750.

Kuo’s current estimates is much lower than his initial prediction back in January. At the time, the analyst said that the LCD iPhone would cost somewhere between $700 and $800 USD.

“[The] 6.1” LCD iPhone may have model that supports DSDS. If the 6.1″ LCD iPhone comes with DSDS and single-SIM models, we believe it will result in two benefits: (1) more price segments would be created, significantly boosting shipments via the low-price single-SIM model,” Kuo writes. “For instance, if the DSDS model sells for US$650-750, the single-SIM model may sell for US$550-650; and (2) the DSDS model will help increase market share in China and commercial markets.”

The 6.1-inch LCD iPhone won’t be the only one out of the trio to get a dual-SIM model either. Kuo says that the 6.5-inch OLED iPhone, which is believed to debut as the “iPhone X Plus,” will also arrive with dual-SIM support. The 5.8-inch OLED iPhone model, which will be positioned as the direct successor to the original iPhone X, will only arrive with a single-SIM variant.

In related news, Apple plans to start a trial production run of its 2018 iPhone lineup in the second quarter. The move comes as Apple looks to avoid the manufacturing delays that plagued the original iPhone X, which were said to have been caused by low yield rates on the production of its 3D sensor modules.