The much-awaited release date of the Apple iPhone 5 continues to be the center of much debate and opinions of most of the tech world suggest two likely time frames, Today it appears that although many of us are eager for a release date, for Apple at least the date of the iPhone 5 appearance makes no odds.
In case you’ve been hiding away somewhere and not been following iPhone 5 news we’ll bring you up to date on those likely release slots. Opinion seems pretty equally divided with some feeling a release will occur sometime in June, shortly after a reveal at WWDC 2012 while others feel a launch is not likely until the fall, a year after the iPhone 4S launch. Since Apple’s WWDC event was confirmed last week a lot of people have been hoping for an iPhone 5 appearance but we don’t think that’s likely.
Apple has made it known that the focus of WWDC will be operating systems and iOS 6 and we are hoping for much more detail on iOS 6 and possibly a taster. Therefore we still think a fall release is much more likely for the new iPhone but of course we’re willing to be proved wrong! For many consumers though, avid to get hold of the next Apple iPhone, the release can’t come soon enough but news from analysts suggests that Apple is in no hurry.
Jefferies has just issued a research note, which firstly gives some details about the iPhone 5. We have to say there is nothing new in the features and specs that Jefferies cites, such as a slimmer iPhone with a larger screen and higher resolution, although of course none of this is yet confirmed. The global securities and investment group also speak of a release date between June and October, which fits in with what everybody else expects. However the report also goes on to tell how the actual release time of the iPhone 5 should make no difference at all to Apple economically and how investors should be relaxed about when this happens.
The report predicts that Q3 will realize 15 million iPhone 5 shipments out of a total of 40 million while expectations for Q4 are for 50 million iPhones in total, according to eWeek. As well as these phenomenal figures it’s thought that if Chinese carriers DoCoMo and China Mobile offer the iPhone from the fourth quarter then a further geographic demand of 10 million could be added to that quarter. Apple really does not need to be pushed into an imminent release for the iPhone 5 when looking at its latest earnings report and a stock price on April 27 (3:30 EST) of $602. Apple also banked $11.2 billion profit last quarter, according to second quarter earnings, from a total of $39.2 billion.
More from the Jefferies report concerns WWDC and reiterates our belief that the focus of the event will be iOS 6. The research note also tells how iOS 6 is likely to concentrate on video and it seems as though an iCloud upgrade could also be on the way. Going back to the iPhone 5 release date though and it certainly does appear that the date of the iPhone 5 release is actually insignificant as far as Apple’s healthy finances are concerned. As far as consumers are concerned though, of course it’s an entirely different picture.
Send us your comments to let us know how you feel about this. Are you waiting eagerly for the iPhone 5? If you knew it would not release until the fall could you be tempted to another smartphone such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, set to be revealed next week? Maybe you feel that despite the fact that Apple can afford to wait, it should bow to public demand and get the next iPhone out sooner rather than later?