Neil Hughes
Yet another analyst has thrown their hat into the ring, joining others who have heard from sources in Apple's supply chain that the company is gearing up to debut a low-cost iPhone in the coming months..
Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets issued a note to investors on Friday in which he said he's received word that Apple plans to launch "multiple new phones" in the June-July timeframe this year. Specifically, he expects Apple to launch a next-generation flagship handset, a so-called "iPhone 5S," as well as a more affordable handset.
"The low-end iPhone will have the same 4-inch form factor as the iPhone 5, but will have a plastic casing and no Retina display," he said. "With a lower price point, AAPL will be able to target a growing and important part of the smartphone market (sub-$400 price band)."
Daryanani believes Apple's rumored low-end iPhone will carry lower gross margins than the iPhone 5 or an iPhone 5S. But he also expects that such a product would contribute another $22 billion in revenue and more than $5 in earnings per share in calendar year 2014, which he believes would add $50 of value to Apple's stock price.
In his projections, the low-end smartphone market has a total addressable size of about 500 million units in calendar 2014. He believes Apple could capture more than 15 percent of that market in the medium term, leading to what he said is a "conservative" estimate of 70 million units.
Daryanani also expects Apple to launch a new iPad mini and full-size iPad this year, while he said a full-fledged Apple television and so-called "iWatch" smart watch are "likely," but the timing of their debut is "unclear."
RBC Capital Markets has retained its "outperform" rating for AAPL stock with a price target of $600.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Oliver Haslam
William Gallagher
140 Comments
He lost me at "no retina display"..
Please stop. It's going to be larger. It's going to be smaller. It's going to be plastic. It's going to be metal. It's going to be retina. It's not going to be retina. It's going to be $299. It's going to be $199. No one knows what the heck they're talking about, so why in the world would anyone take any of them seriously? Of course, with 20,000 random rumors covering every end of the spectrum, whatever Apple does will hit one of the rumors - and the person who made that wild-a$$ed guess will claim to be an expert.
Cause that makes sense considering that they're going to require that all apps fill the screen and have retina display beginning May 1st.
Has anyone kept a scorecard as to how many anal-ists and pundits have declared their belief in the "small, cheap iPhone"?
While I'm sure Apple didn't start this rumor, I wouldn't be surprised if they were using it to check for information leaks at the HQ.
In before someone says "the iPhone 4 is free, you cants get cheaper than free." Not in before someone wonders why there are rumors on a rumor site. We could post it in.