Budget iPhone Will Lack Retina Display, Analyst Says

After performing the usual supply chain check, Amit Daryanani, an RBC Capital analyst, has issued a note to investors today saying Apple will launch two iPhone models this year in the third quarter – reiterating earlier analyst predictions – and that the low-cost iPhone won’t feature a Retina Display (Via BGR).

“Our supply-chain checks indicate that AAPL is working to launch multiple new phones in the June/July time-frame this year,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a research note on Friday. “Specifically, [Apple] will launch the iPhone5s and a more affordable but lower-end iPhone at the same time, in either late CYQ2 or early Q3.”

What Daryanani forgot to mention, though, is that according to Apple’s announcement yesterday all apps submitted to the App Store must support Retina resolution and the iPhone 5’s display as of May 1, 2013. However, there is a loophole in this announcement: Apps can support devices with non-Retina displays such as the iPhone 3GS, but with iOS 7 Apple could drop support for that iPhone model.

RBC Capital’s note seems to contradict a KGI Securities report signed by Ming-Chi Kuo, which states that the budget iPhone will have the same 4-inch display as the iPhone 5.