MSNBC put the spotlight on a new report by RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky, who believes that an entry-level $99 iPhone will arrive in June or July alongside an upgraded (higher screen resolution) iPhone 3G.
The report echos many similar analyst reports over the past year that have also pointed to the possibility of an entry-level $99 iPhone. The analyst even published this detailed chart about what he believes the breakdown might be (republished by AppleInsider):
The $99 entry-level iPhone looks remarkably like the original iPhone with an EDGE-only network connection but a discounted monthly plan. The upgraded iPhone 3G, however, seems to only add video, storage and a higher resolution screen to the mix. The report looks like a rehash of circulating rumors and speculation. And in the end, analyst reports as a whole have been a poor predictor of future Apple products, but we published this for interest's sake.
The possibility of a low-end $99 iPhone was brought into doubt by Apple's acting-CEO Tim Cook, who said that Apple was simply not interested in that market:
We're not going to play in the low-end voice phone business. That's not who we are, that's not why we're here. Goal is not to lead unit sales, but to build the world's best phone.
The next-generation iPhone, however, is certainly in the works as evidenced by model strings found in the latest iPhone firmware.
One interesting note is that the possibility of an increased resolution (720x480) iPhone might be less of a problem for app compatibility than rumored plans for a smaller Nano screen. While developers may still have to issue new versions of their apps, scaling to a higher resolution would presumably be easier than the other way around. Meanwhile, the 720x480 resolution has been said to be planned for Apple's long-rumored mini-tablet/PDA project.
iOS 18 is expected to be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. iOS 18 is rumored to include new generative AI features for Siri and many apps, and Apple plans to add RCS support to the Messages app for an improved texting experience between iPhones and Android devices. The update is also expected to introduce a more...
Wednesday April 17, 2024 9:58 am PDT by Juli Clover
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
Tuesday April 16, 2024 11:33 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...
Apple today said it removed Game Boy emulator iGBA from the App Store for violating the company's App Review Guidelines related to spam (section 4.3) and copyright (section 5.2), but it did not provide any specific details. iGBA was a copycat version of developer Riley Testut's open-source GBA4iOS app. The emulator rose to the top of the App Store charts following its release this weekend,...
Tuesday April 16, 2024 6:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
A week after Apple updated its App Review Guidelines to permit retro game console emulators, a Game Boy emulator for the iPhone called iGBA has appeared in the App Store worldwide. The emulator is already one of the top free apps on the App Store charts. It was not entirely clear if Apple would allow emulators to work with all and any games, but iGBA is able to load any Game Boy ROMs that...
