There have been “iPhone mini” rumors since before Apple introduced the 5.5″ iPhone Plus, but now that the 4″ has languished people are starting to miss it. So much so that KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple can move 20-30 million of such a phone.
He gives the following prescription for the specs: metal casing (since the 5s far outsold the 5c), Apple A9 chipset to handle iOS9 and 10 (since the A7 in the 5s is getting really rusty), no 3D Touch (to differentiate the bigger phones).
Kuo believes that Apple will hand the manufacturing contract to Foxconn exclusively sometime in the first half of next year. The analyst says Apple will move to further differentiate the biggest and mid-size iPhone 7 models, by giving the Plus extra RAM.
Again, this is what an analyst believes is the best move for Apple, whether the leadership at Cupertino agrees remains to be seen. Looking at Android, there’s basically no 4″ flagship, even the Xperia Z Compact line is at 4.6″. Would you pick a 4″ iPhone 7 over a 4.7″ one?
[“source-gsmarena”]
