AppleInsider Staff
Being among the first to offer cases for a new iPhone is a multi-million dollar business opportunity that leaves manufacturers racing to prepare updated models based on rumors and hearsay — a move that can easily backfire.
Apple is likely to unveil a new 4-inch iPhone in 2016; this is a point of near universal agreement. The rumor mill is somewhat less united when it comes to the new handset's form factor.
Some believe the so-called "iPhone 6c" — or "iPhone 5se," depending who you ask — will resemble an iPhone 5s, while adopting the rounded glass found on the iPhone 6. This group notably includes well-connected Taiwanese analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Others think the updated handset will effectively be a miniature iPhone 6, possibly standardizing the design of Apple's iPhone range for the first time in years.
As far as cases are concerned, the early money appears to be following the iPhone 6 trail. Rearth USA has shown off renders of a new case designed for a 4-inch iPhone 6c, and while they are available for preorder it's not clear if the company has actually committed to tooling up for production.
Accessory makers have lost out in the past by betting on form factors that never saw the light of day, making this a risky proposition. In 2011, Hard Candy ordered $50,000 worth of production molds based on a rumored teardrop design for the device that would eventually become the quite rectilinear iPhone 4s.
Case-Mate likewise prepped for an iPhone 4s with a "completely different form factor" and "extended home button" at the same time, though it's unknown if that company followed through with the same tooling orders as its competition.
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5 Comments
To the established companies, multiple molds and even small batch production of several iterations is simply part of the business and those costs are factored in to everything they do.
Apple doesn't really give a hoot about these manufacturers, They don't pay Apple enough money to even appear on the radar.
Unless they are from Apple, some of the worst made products in the world are the cases available at launch for an iPhone.
Case makers take risks all the time but they don't essentially just "make shit up" like this article assumes they are.
They must at least have an engineering drawing to get the fit right. Whether that drawing is right or wrong, we haven't seen it yet. That means that it will either surface in the next week or so, or this article is probably incorrect.
Surely any name with a '5' in it makes no sense? A '6' makes it sound like last year's phone, which would be churlish even if it turns out to be an "economy" phone but a '5' puts it another year older. We also know how "economy" Apple's last rumoured economy phone turned out (5c: not very, for those that don't follow these things closely).
Since I'm holding out for a 4" replacement for my 5s, I'm hoping that it's at least a smaller 6s if not a lead '7' (my 5s was bought on release as the latest iPhone and it's the size that attracts me, not any lack of features). We'll see.