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Apple's 4.8-Inch iPhone 6 Reportedly Not Launching Until Mid-2014

Wednesday February 13, 2013 8:32 am PST by Eric Slivka
Amid circulating rumors of a larger display for the iPhone, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek today reported that he does not see the device launching until mid-2014. Misek argues that problems with display yield and substantial other changes for the iPhone 6 will make a 2013 launch unlikely. Some rumors had suggested that Apple might be able to launch an iPhone 5S and a lower-cost iPhone in mid-2013 and follow with a larger iPhone as soon as late this year.
We see three possible bottlenecks for the iPhone that could contribute to lower yields (and hence higher costs) and/or a delayed launch.

- App processor production at 20nm. Apple’s current iPhone app processor is on 32nm. For the iPhone 6 we think Apple will likely skip over 28nm and go to 20nm to facilitate adding more cores (4 or even 8). While TSMC is targeting a 2014 ramp in its 20nm production we think that issues like double patterning could make it a more complicated transition than the 28nm ramp, which had its own substantial ramp and yield issues.

- Display shifting from in-cell LCD to on-cell OLED or IGZO. We think in- cell is having difficulty ramping to 4.8”, which is making Apple look at switching to on-cell (a different integrated touchscreen technology) and OLED (despite Apple’s suppliers being well behind Samsung in their OLED capabilities) or IGZO.

- Revamped OS. We think Apple plans to re-architect iOS to utilize more cores and better compete with Samsung. Also, we believe the way iOS interoperates with iCloud, gestures controls, and advertising will be substantially upgraded.
Misek first noted the existence of 4.8-inch iPhone prototypes in December, but last month indicated that he was seeing no further signs of the device. The larger iPhone appears to have now returned to his radar but with a longer time horizon than originally thought.

jefferies_apple_roadmap_feb13
Overall, Misek sees his claimed television product event coming next month with the iPhone 5S and lower-cost iPhone following in the June/July timeframe. He does not see any iPad updates until the fall, when both the full-size iPad and the iPad mini would be updated around the same time as the launch of the Apple television set.

Misek's track record is, however, rather mixed with previous claims of an Apple competitor to Netflix not panning out and only being half correct about the iPhone coming to Sprint and T-Mobile in 2011.

Tags: Jefferies & Co., Peter Misek
[ 170 comments ]


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inkswamp
78 months ago
I wonder if analysts ever get cramps in their arms from throwing all this #$&*@ against the wall to see what sticks. :rolleyes:
Rating: 34 Votes
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bobbytallant
78 months ago
Wow I am sure the Samsung Galaxy S Note SuperNova 5, that has an 8 inch screen and missile-firing capabilities, will be out by then :eek:
Rating: 21 Votes
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Macrolido
78 months ago
All we need is a revamped iOS.
Rating: 15 Votes
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imgonephishin
78 months ago
I've long been tired of the "Apple better do X quickly or they'll miss the opportunity forever." (see: blu-ray, 3G for the iPhone, etc.)

So I won't go so far as to say, "THEY NEED A BIGGER SCREEN OR THE COMPANY WILL DIE."

But they need to do something. iOS is getting desperately long-in-tooth. Aside from a slightly longer screen, very little has changed about the hardware in 3+ years now. I'm not counting them out, but I starting to get a little antsy.
Rating: 10 Votes
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NoNothing
78 months ago
I wonder who dreams up these comments...

"We think Apple plans to re-architect iOS to utilize more cores and better compete with Samsung."

iOS is already heavily multi-threaded as are most of the apps I write thanks to GCD making it brain dead simple.
Rating: 8 Votes
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MacFather
78 months ago
"For the first time ever we've increased the size of the display. By making the screen taller, but NOT WIDER, you can still comfortably use it with one hand." - Jony Ive

"It is really easy to make a new product that is bigger, everyone does that, that's not the challenge, the challenge is to make it better, AND SMALLER". - Phil Schiller
Rating: 7 Votes
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TheNextBigThing
78 months ago
If this news/rumor is true, then, my next phone will be SAMSUNG. :)
Rating: 6 Votes
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el-John-o
78 months ago
So the DAY after Tim Cook says Apple feels that their choice to deliberately stay away from OLED displays, claiming their displays are superior, the 'analysts' say they are going to shift to OLED?

Not commenting on whether or not I personally want OLED, but, Tim Cook did JUST cite OLED displays as one of the shortcomings of the competition, evidently he and Apples engineering team finds them inferior to the type of displays Apple is currently using (IPS)
Rating: 6 Votes
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lilo777
78 months ago

"For the first time ever we've increased the size of the display. By making the screen taller, but NOT WIDER, you can still comfortably use it with one hand." - Jony Ive

"It is really easy to make a new product that is bigger, everyone does that, that's not the challenge, the challenge is to make it better, AND SMALLER". - Phil Schiller


They are just spinning. They are promoting what they sell. The spin will change once the product does. I remember times when Apple was convinced that tablets smaller than 9" were useless...
Rating: 6 Votes
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chazwatson
78 months ago
Misek is a dumbass. Apparently he might have some supply chain visibility (and really, even my grandmother does at this point) but not enough smarts or inside knowledge to interpret it. He even admits to being wrong about the cheaper, larger phone.

These analysts are acting like wannabe investigative journalists, except they jump to horribly wrong conclusions based on incomplete facts.

New app processor? iOS needs to better compete against Samsung? WTF does this crap even mean?

This guy is a train wreck and clearly everyone is unwilling to look away.
Rating: 6 Votes

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