Apple considering earlier-than-usual launch for 'iPhone 7' in 2016, source says

Posted:
in iPhone edited November 2015
Though Apple has used the month of September to introduce new iPhones for four straight years, that could change in 2016 with an earlier than expected debut for the "iPhone 7," a source has told AppleInsider.


"iPhone 7" concept by Martin Hajek.


Since the iPhone 5 launched on Sept. 21, 2012, all proceeding iPhone models have launched around that same late-September period. Most recently, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus arrived in the hands of consumers on Sept. 25.
Launching an "iPhone 7" earlier than expected could calm concerns that iPhone 6s demand might wane at the end of its product cycle.
But that pattern could end next year with an earlier launch, a reliable source told AppleInsider on Wednesday. The same person has, in the past, provided accurate information about the Apple's future product plans.

Exactly how early it might launch, however, remains unknown. Up until the iPhone 4s in 2011, the first four generations of iPhone upgrades launched in the summer, in the months of June and July.

The lone outlier from those launch windows was the iPhone 4s, which became available in October.

Though plans can change as a product makes its way to market, Apple is apparently hoping to complete the development cycle of its "iPhone 7" faster than in previous years. It's expected that the next-generation handset will feature a completely new external design, as the company has traditionally done with new model numbers.

This year's iPhone 6s upgrade features largely the same external design as the iPhone 6. That has prompted concerns among investors that demand for the iPhone 6s could wane, particularly toward the tail end of the product cycle, as consumers await a new-look "iPhone 7" next year.

Launching the "iPhone 7" in an earlier window of 2016 would be one way for Apple to address those concerns, and to help avoid a potential year-over-year decrease in sales as the iPhone 6s product cycle winds down.


"iPhone 7" concept by Martin Hajek.


Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, another reliable insider on Apple's future product plans, said on Tuesday that Apple also plans to begin mass production of a revamped 4-inch iPhone sometime in the first half of 2016. That suggests Apple is planning to launch three new iPhones in 2016, joining an "iPhone 7" and "iPhone 7 Plus."

According to Kuo, the "iPhone 7" series is currently scheduled to begin production a little later, in the third quarter of calendar 2016. That would place manufacturing anywhere from July to September, according to his sources.

Kuo also said that Apple is expected to bump up the RAM in the "iPhone 7 Plus" to 3 gigabytes, an increase from the 2 gigabytes of RAM found in the iPhone 6s series, and three times that of the 1 gigabyte in the iPhone 6 lineup. He believes the 3-gigabyte boost will be exclusive to the larger 5.5-inch Plus variant, with the smaller 4.7-inch "iPhone 7" staying at 2 gigabytes in its "A10" processor.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 68
    celcocelco Posts: 211member
    Bring on the innovation.
  • Reply 2 of 68
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,695member

    So now we've heard from Kuo, and Appleinsider. Any bets on how soon we hear from Mark Gurman regarding iPhone 7?

  • Reply 3 of 68
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    These iPhone 7 stories might actually be a campaign to suppress iPhone 6S sales. Start talking now about the next model, that it'll be great and released early, and you might be able to persuade people to wait. I wouldn't be surprised that's an actual strategy being played out at the hands of Apple's competitors and haters. Nobody should take seriously any iPhone 7 to updated 4" iPhone chatter.
  • Reply 4 of 68

    They say this every year man

     

    iPhone release in the summer or even April would be much better instead of pushing everything in the fall season.....

  • Reply 5 of 68
    mbsmdmbsmd Posts: 34member
    Apple is not desperate. I might expect (and we've seen) this behavior out of Samsung, but Apple has no need to behave like this... which is both good and bad. Good in that the iPhone has its life cycle, bad in that things like the Mac Pro and Mac mini don't get updated as frequently (since they don't "need" to).
  • Reply 6 of 68
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Bears want to tank the stock so putting out bogus rumors? Apple just started this iPhone upgrade program. Why in the world would they piss off all the people who signed up for this new program by launching the new iPhones in less than a year? It makes zero sense, probably why it's not true.
  • Reply 7 of 68
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Can't wait for August 31!
  • Reply 8 of 68
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    They say this every year man

    iPhone release in the summer or even April would be much better instead of pushing everything in the fall season.....

    Except Apple didn't push everything into the fall season. ?Watch came out in the spring. Macs were updated in the spring and summer. No iPad Air 2 this fall leaves room for a new iPad Air next spring.
  • Reply 9 of 68
    It's possible they want to reduce costs on iPhone production, the 6S chassis and upgrades may be rather expensive, it's possible a 7 would be cheaper to manufacture
  • Reply 10 of 68

    I agree, the upgrade program pretty much makes this rumour a non-starter. I could, though, imagine the 4" budget phone (which wouldn't be aimed at current iPhone 6 upgraders, but rather a new demographic) coming out early. Since it'll be older tech, it wouldn't steal the iPhone 7's thunder in any way.

  • Reply 11 of 68
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    New rumours planned for 2016. Shock horror. Back in the real world iPhone 7 ships when it's expect to in the fall of 2016.

     

    And boy is that concept ridiculous and ugly.

  • Reply 12 of 68
    Ridiculous with all the 12 month upgrade to new phone programs by each carrier as well as Apple now.

    I hear these rumors every year from non fan boys and I have to tell them don't believe it. Should I upgrade over the holidays since a new iPhone is coming out in a few months? Lol.
  • Reply 13 of 68
    Very likely. Apple stock price is heavily manipulated (downwards), 1 on radarthekat / sog35.

    Track record of source seems to be add odds with this though. Unless 6s sales were below expectations, this is implausible. R&D cost need to be recovered too; early product transition would erode profitability so Apple wouldn't do this unless situation is dire. No reason whatsoever to believe this. Proof would be in Q4 / FY2015 results we'll see in due course.

    The other scenario would be a "pre-emptive strike" against high-end competition. But no reason to believe this is likely as Apple is defending high-end dominance / even attracting Android switchers in that segment.

    Speculation on RAM increase is entirely credible though. RAM needs to scale proportionate (or beyond) previous vs next-gen relative CPU performance. If anything, CPUs already scaled faster than RAM in the *past* so this is overdue. Only caveat is battery capacity. As S > non S capacity-wise, Kuo's prediction appears well informed.
  • Reply 14 of 68
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Hey that's exactly the iPhone concept idea I posted in the last iPhone 7 story!

    Wtf? O.O

    Except I figured it would be better with the bottom row apps on the bottom.
    Would be pretty high tech if they can make the home button a touch screen also for an extra icon(one's missing in the above concept). Touch to activate icon/app, click or force press for home screen.
  • Reply 15 of 68
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    ireland wrote: »
    New rumours planned for 2016. Shock horror. Back in the real world iPhone 7 ships when it's expect to in the fall of 2016.

    And boy is that concept ridiculous and ugly.

    I have yet to see any concept from Martin Hajek that wasn't either ugly and/or unrealistic. Let's not forget his AppleTV concept featured polished chamfered edges for the box and the remote.

    13188306885_44ab3ac734_b.jpg

    Then after the iPhone 6 came out he changed it to this:

    20593530883_8993e0fd57_b.jpg

    I don't know why everyone uses his stuff for illustrative purposes.
  • Reply 16 of 68
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the next iPhone will most certainly NOT be released early because Apple NEVER releases the iPhone early.

    You're welcome...I just spared you from reading Kuo's nonsense.
  • Reply 17 of 68
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    ireland wrote: »
    New rumours planned for 2016. Shock horror. Back in the real world iPhone 7 ships when it's expect to in the fall of 2016.

    And boy is that concept ridiculous and ugly.

    How is it ugly? I don't know about the bottom icons he used but replacing those with your "favorite" apps could work.
    This concept gets more obstructive tools(rewind/status bar/etc) out of the way of your space.
    The concept looks like a natural progression to a full front screen device. Or is that ugly too?
  • Reply 18 of 68
    That is not good for all of us who do means to get an early upgrade every year.
  • Reply 19 of 68
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    igorsky wrote: »
    I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the next iPhone will most certainly NOT be released early because Apple NEVER releases the iPhone early.

    You're welcome...I just spared you from reading Kuo's nonsense.
    Kuo didn't say the iPhone 7 was being released early. That claim came from Apple Insider.
  • Reply 20 of 68
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    Does Apple even know rumor is Apple coming out with iphone earlier than typical schedule ?
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