Rumor: Handset vendors waiting for iPhone 4S demand to cool before releasing new models
International smartphone vendors, including Samsung, HTC, Nokia and LG, are rumored to be waiting until the second quarter to release new handset models in order to avoid direct competition with Apple's hot-selling iPhone 4S.
Taiwanese smartphone supply chain makers have reportedly indicated to industry publication DigiTimes that Apple's rivals are holding off on device launches because, based on previous experience, iPhone 4S sales "will remain at peak in the first quarter of 2012" before declining in the second quarter. The report claimed that the second-quarter releases from a range of smartphone makers are specifically timed "to avoid competing too directly with the iPhone 4S."
Several of the aforementioned smartphone makers will unveil new models at the 2012 Mobile World Congress, which takes place from Feb. 27-March 1 in Barcelona, Spain, in "consideration of advantageous timing," the report went on to note. Despite their first-quarter unveiling, the devices will reportedly not go on sale until the second quarter.
It should be noted, however, that DigiTimes' sources have at times proved less than reliable and should be met with some skepticism.
After Apple reported last week unprecedented sales of 37 million iPhones in the December quarter, one market research proclaimed the company the world's largest smartphone maker for the period, naming Samsung a close second with estimated shipments of 36.5 million units.
The company's impressive performance last quarter was good enough to barely beat out Google's Android platform for the first time in several quarters, according to one analysis. All told, Apple has sold 350 million iOS devices, including tablets and the iPod touch.
Analysts responded to the iPhone maker's quarterly results last week by raising their forecasts for the first quarter of calendar 2012. A number of them predicted that the company's smartphone sales will remain strong during the period due to incremental geographic and carrier launches.
The first quarter has already seen so far the launch of the iPhone 4S in China and 21 other countries. Despite the fact that the device's release in China was marred by a near-riot outside of Apple's flagship store in Beijing and experienced some delays as a result, the device is currently sold out in the country.
Comments
I hope they come out swinging at both ends with quad core and 2 ghz dual core phones though.
So do I. It will be all the more delicious when the iPhone 3GS, running a downclocked 633MHz, beats them all in sales.
You don't need 4 models of the same phone either with just tweaked features to distinguish them from each other. Motorola I'm talking to you.
Took five years, but they're finally starting to see that, I think. Even just a little.
"But all of our users have different wants and needs! We should cater to all of them!"
Doesn't work in sales. You see maybe three or four toilet designs ever. Not that there couldn't be thirty.
International smartphone vendors, including Samsung, HTC, Nokia and LG, are rumored to be waiting until the second quarter to release new handset models in order to avoid direct competition with Apple's hot-selling iPhone 4S.
Brilliant timing, copycats. Just in time to be blown out of existence by the iPhone 5...
Morons.
Brilliant timing, copycats. Just in time to be blown out of existence by the iPhone 5...
Morons.
That's right. Blow them sky high out of the water Apple.
Brilliant timing, copycats. Just in time to be blown out of existence by the iPhone 5...
Morons.
While I agree with your post mostly, how in the world is Apple going to release a 6th-generation phone and call it the iPhone 5? I have never understood this.
While I agree with your post mostly, how in the world is Apple going to release a 6th-generation phone and call it the iPhone 5? I have never understood this.
Um, not so hard. Apple released 7 versions of snow leopard and then made the 8th version lion. You got a 4. You got a 4S. Now you get a 5. Easy peasy.
While I agree with your post mostly, how in the world is Apple going to release a 6th-generation phone and call it the iPhone 5? I have never understood this.
iPhone
iPhone 3G
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPhone 4S
iPhone ?
If you see a pattern there that clearly and unequivocally shows that the next in the sequence is
iPhone 6, that is great for you. But as long as people have been squawking about it, no one has convinced me that 6 is the only suffix possible for the next iPhone. Apple has absolutely shown that they will use numbers that don't correspond with the actual version number of the phone.
This is not to say that the next will not be 6. I don't know. I am agnostic on the issue. I just find it silly that people are ready to criticize others for something that is not a certain fact, but is, in fact, an educated guess.
Apple has absolutely shown that they will use numbers that don't correspond with the actual version number of the phone.
Apple has never used nomenclature that doesn't correspond to the version of the iPhone HW.
iPhone 3G was named so because it contained the 3G HW.
iPhone 3GS was named so because it was the iPhone 3G but speedier.
iPhone 4 was named so because it was the 4th release of the HW (also contained iOS 4 and the A4 chip).
iPhone 4S was named so because it was the iPhone 4 but speedier.
If Apple calls it the iPhone 5 it will be an unprecedented move. You might as well say they'll call it the iPhone 4T because T comes after S.
International smartphone vendors, including Samsung, HTC, Nokia and LG, are rumored to be waiting until the second quarter to release new handset models in order to avoid direct competition with Apple's hot-selling iPhone 4S.
But didn't the 4S simply add Siri, which everyone else already had their own version of at least 12 months ago?
Since the 4S was just "an update" with no new/must have features, what's the hold up?
What will really happen: Apple will release the iPad3 at the same time as all the new Android phones. The new iPad3 will interoperate with, sync with,or someway dance with the current iPhone so that there will be a second surge of iPhone sales drowning out any noise the Android makers will try to make.
Following quarter, new iPhone5....
Next quarter: Android found to infringe on Apple patent central to Android interoperability. All imports shut down by ITC.
News Item: Larry Page arrested while stomping on Steve Jobs grave. Confined to nut house.
I can believe this. But it's not so much that manufacturers are worried, it's that carriers don't want to release phones at the same time as the latest iPhone model. It'd be ideal for them to get the next Galaxy or whatever after the iPhone hype has died down. And if carriers don't want to buy them, manufacturers aren't going to make them.
Maybe they are holding off because they don't want to have to recall them after Android is blocked. They may have to bring them out as Windows Phones or whatever operating systme the "copiests" are trying to "develop".
iPhone
iPhone 3G
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPhone 4S
iPhone ?
iPhone ME. That's the next one!
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