KGI Securities: Apple Unlikely to Refresh iPhone SE in Early 2017

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Apple is unlikely to refresh the iPhone SE in early 2017, meaning that we may not see an annual refresh cycle for the device.

Kuo says Apple will prolong iPhone SE’s lifecycle beyond the usual one-year refresh in a bid to boost its gross margins and minimize the impact on sales it takes away from their high-end flagships like the iPhone 7.

Specifically, Kuo says a new iPhone SE model is unlikely to launch in the second fiscal quarter of 2017, which for Apple ends in March. The 4-inch iPhone SE first debuted this year on March 31, leaving some to speculate that a next-generation version with updated internals would see release at roughly the same time in 2017.

Kuo does not mention plans beyond the second quarter, meaning a refresh might occur later in the year.

[via MacRumors]