Apple will launch its 10th anniversary iPhone this fall and when it does, it will offer an “unwitting lesson in how much the smartphone industry it pioneered has matured”, notes Reuters in a research article.
Although the Cupertino tech giant is expected to include new features such as OLED displays, wireless charging and 3D sensors in ‘iPhone 8’, its product strategy is driven less by technological innovation than by consumer upgrade cycles, and the company’s own business and marketing needs.
Rather than representing major breakthroughs, however, most of the innovations have been available in competing phones for several years. Apple’s relatively slow adoption of new features both reflects and reinforces the fact smartphone customers are holding onto their phones longer. Timothy Arcuri, an analyst at Cowen & Co, believes upwards of 40 percent of iPhones on the market are more than two years old, a historical high.
“When a market gets saturated, the growth is all about refresh,” said Bob O’Donnell of Technalysis Research. “This is exactly what happened to PCs. It’s exactly what happened to tablets. It’s starting to happen to smartphones.”
While Apple recently joined support of Qi wireless charging, a source tells Reuters “there are still at least five different groups working on wireless charging technology within Apple”.
Analysts are not expecting a radical new design with the anniversary iPhone, although component suppliers and others indicate that high-resolution displays based on OLED technology, possibly with curved edges, are quite likely. Some analysts also speculate the company could remove the phone’s home button, placing it and a fingerprint sensor beneath the front display glass.
In a statement on Jan. 8 this year, the date the iPhone was announced by Steve Jobs in 2007, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “iPhone set the standard for mobile computing in its first decade and we are just getting started. The best is yet to come”.
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People who keep these rumours alive are going to be really disappointed when Apple announces an iPhone 7S with the same speed and camera improvements that previous “S” models got.
You don’t seem to understand… At this point, it’s a given that Apple will announce both the iPhone 7S and the iPhone 8 at the same time. This will make for 3 new iPhone this year; the iPhone 7S (4.7″) and 7S Plus (5.5″) with LCD screen and home button and the iPhone 8 (5.8″) with an OLED screen without any home button.
It was also “a given” that Apple would release an HDTV, look how that turned out.
Remember in 2011 when Apple was rumoured to be coming out with an iPhone 5 and it turned out to be an iPhone 4S? Remember in 2013 when Apple was rumoured to be coming out with an iPhone 6 and it turned out to be an iPhone 5S? Remember in 2015 when Apple was rumoured to be coming out with an iPhone 7 and it turned out to be an iPhone 6S?
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” comes to mind.
You first point make no sense… This rumor came from an ANALYST with absolutely no knowledge of the matter or sources ! This dude also said apple would go bankrupt if it didn’t release the Apple Watch in the next 90 days… Apple launched the Apple Watch more than a year later. Then, all the rest of your pseudo “statement” are factually wrong. We have known for years that apple is using a tick-tock cycle for the iPhone. And anyway, the rumors for the multiple iPhone model come from multiple very credible sources ! Not the most retarded analyst of the planet.
Yes, we’ve known for years that Apple uses a tick-tock cycle but everyone forgets the “S” years exist: In 2011 sites like 9to5Mac (https://9to5mac.com/2011/03/17/iphone-5-prototypes-spotted-metal-back-larger-display-iphone-4-shape/) and Business Insider (http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-5-rumors-2011-6) insisted on calling the iPhone 4S the “iPhone 5”, in 2013 sites like Macworld (http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/iphone-6-rumours-apple-samsung-launch-smartphones-wireless-charging-year-3434360/) and Computer World (http://www.computerworld.com/article/2474212/smartphones/iphone-6-is-iphone-math-.html) insisted on calling the iPhone 5S the “iPhone 6”, and in 2015 sites Mashable (http://mashable.com/2015/04/22/iphone-7-concept-digital-crown/) insisted on calling the iPhone 6S the “iPhone 7”.