iPhone Mini

Poll: my next cell phone will be…

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

These days, it's all but impossible to escape Apple hate speech. You know who to blame: big media. I mean, stock manipulators played even the credulous Wall Street Journal. It's not just WSJ - or NYT or Reuters, for that matter.

Anti-Apple Forbes hit new lows with clickbait headlines like this one or this one. And as crazypants analysts voice their concern regarding "Apple’s lack of a strategy in the lower-end phone”, they at the same time continue to hallucinate about a happiness or time travel machine from Apple.

And all of them get an assistance from traffic-hungry journalists like Dan Lyons whose write-ups sound bitter and idiotic. But in spite of all that FUD talk, Apple is demolishing Android in every metric that matters. None of this frenzy should matter when considering your next cell phone.

But real life can be a bitch and with so much negative publicity mounting ahead of Apple's earnings report, no wonder some of the faint-hearted fans are beginning to question their faith in the California firm. I know where my heart stands, but I want to know one thing: do you know where your heart stands? So, what's your next phone gonna be?

Budget iPhone: the augur of a new era of lower Apple margins

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

What should the rumored budget iPhone cost and how low could Apple price it without sacrificing its industry-leading profits? Jean-Louis Gassée, a former executive at Apple, where he worked from 1981 to 1990, ran some numbers on his Monday Note blog to try and make sense of the idea. The crux: there's no way Apple could make a compelling, inexpensive device sporting today's hardware encased in a less exquisite (dare I say, plasticky?) body without sacrificing its powerful margins.

Should the Cupertino, California company in fact pursue the low-cost iPhone, the move will be remembered as the augur of a new era of lower Apple margins and as such likely signals a new brutal phase in the Smartphone Wars...

Apple rumored to unveil ‘iPhone Math’ with 4.8-inch display in June

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Despite the fact that Apple just launched the iPhone 5 in September of last year, talk of the next iteration of the handset has already started to accumulate. It seems like we hear rumors regarding the next-gen iPhone on a weekly basis.

The latest report claims that Apple is actually planning on unveiling three new handsets this year. It says that the first two, the iPhone 5S and the 'iPhone Math,' will launch in June, and a third, unknown model, just before Christmas...

Here’s a budget iPhone concept with a 3.5-inch display

Cody Lee ∙ January 16, 2013

Apple is expected to make a few changes to its mobile lineup this year. For the iPad, it's expected to revamp the 9.7-inch model making it thinner and lighter, with smaller bezels. On the iPhone side, it's expected to release a new budget model.

As with all new product rumors, artists are using their skills and creativity to create mockups of what these things could possibly look like. We showed you some earlier today of the next-gen iPad, and now we have some of the rumored 'iPhone mini.'

Apple’s 2013 product roadmap said to include multiple iPhones, Retina iPad mini and more

Cody Lee ∙ January 16, 2013

With all of the bad publicity Apple's been getting lately, and its stock down 30%, the company could sure use some fresh new products. And according to a new report, it has a number of them in the pipeline for 2013.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who actually has a pretty good track record in predicting Apple's product plans, has just issued a new report outlining what he thinks the company has planned for the year...

Former Apple CEO says Apple must rethink its supply chain to build less-pricey iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 15, 2013

Former Pepsico and Apple CEO John Sculley has issued some advice to Apple's current boss Tim Cook on the matter of a so-called budget iPhone, Phil Schiller be damned. He told Bloomberg television today that Apple should take into account the realities of today's cut-throat smartphone business.

He's all for a more affordable Apple handset, but opines it won't happen unless Apple's boss Tim Cook, who under the Steve Jobs regime ran Apple's manufacturing and supply chain, is willing to "dramatically rethink the supply chain" and give up on some of Apple's industry-leading margins...

Budget iPhone to feature hybrid plastic/metal design, due later this year

Cody Lee ∙ January 15, 2013

Last week, DigiTimes released a report, claiming that its sources had seen prototypes of a low-cost iPhone floating around Apple's supply chain. Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg corroborated the story via their own independent informants.

Today, DigiTimes offers up a few more details about the fabled handset, claiming that Apple is toying with both an all plastic and a hybrid plastic/metal chassis for the cheaper handset, as well as a special 'see-through' design. More details after the fold...

Reuters clarifies budget iPhone story: Apple won’t blindly pursue marketshare

Cody Lee ∙ January 11, 2013

And the plot continues to thicken. After two major news outlets ran stories earlier this week claiming that Apple was working on a less-expensive iPhone, Reuters reported that the company had no such plans, citing comments made to a Chinese newspaper by Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller.

But as most of you know, Reuters retracted the report earlier today. It was unclear at the time why it had chosen to remove the story, but it's attempting to clear things up this afternoon with a new report called "Apple won't blindly pursue market share" that helps shed some light on what happened...

Wow, Reuters pulls Phil Schiller ‘no budget iPhone’ story. Umm… Now what?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Here's something for naysayers to chew on: Reuters, the respectable news gathering organization, Friday morning issued a clarification stating it had withdrawn the story that was originally published under the headline "Apple exec dismisses cheaper iPhone as a market share grab — report". It's not clear what prompted Reuters to rescind its report sourced from an interview Apple's marketing honcho Phil Schiller gave to the Shanghai Evening News.

iDB also cited that Chinese newspaper interview, in which Schiller reportedly claims that “despite the popularity of cheap smartphones”, a so-called budget “will never be the future of Apple’s products”. It's unclear why Reuters has now distanced itself from Schiller's denial concerning the so-called iPhone mini project.

Managing Editor Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web has verified with Apple that it’s an official interview and Reuters relayed his claim. Later yesterday, however, the news organization updated its original interview story after the Shanghai Evening News made "substantial changes to its content", but didn't give the specifics.

Friday morning, Reuters retracts its story altogether. It's an interesting turn of events no matter how you look at it, one that raises new questions. Like, why would Reuters risk its credibility by pulling the Phil Schiller budget iPhone story, despite the supposed confirmation from Apple? So... What do you make of this?

On budget iPhone…

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 10, 2013

Just a quick thought here on this less-pricey iPhone meme. Per reports, Apple's marketing boss Phil Schiller uncharacteristically responded with a statement to Shanghai Evening News in order to poke holes in the rumor that was beginning to pick up considerable steam. He claims that "despite the popularity of cheap smartphones", such a device "will never be the future of Apple’s products".

But it's an ambiguous dismissal (it's translated from Japanese) and it does't outright deny whispers of Apple internally exploring the idea. His words just don't tell the whole truth. Plus, Apple has a history of lying to the media. The company often makes bold denials, only to refute its own rebuttal by doing exactly what it's said won't do. If Android is anything to go by, an affordable iPhone could easily make a huge difference...

Confirmed: Apple’s marketing honcho shoots down budget iPhone talk

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Samsung is planning to refresh its flagship consumer electronics products at a media event on February 21, rumors are swirling that Apple is about to branch out the iPhone into two hardware versions: one flagship model aimed at high-end consumers and the other budget model costing up to $149, reportedly made from cheaper materials and possibly crammed with less features.

The inexpensive device, according to the latest chatter, should be targeted at price-conscious shoppers in China and other emerging markets. Though both WSJ and Bloomberg over the past year reported a few times that Apple executives have explored a less expensive iPhone sold without a contractual obligation, the company's SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller has reportedly debunked the rumor in an interview with a Japanese newspaper...

Why T-Mobile is the right fit for the $99 iPhone mini

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 9, 2013

With both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg now reporting that Apple is considering a less-pricey iPhone for emerging markets with the unsubsidized price starting as low as $99, the question is arising which of the top wireless carriers will get the honors of launching the handset here in the U.S. And if by its very nature Apple's upcoming new iPhone is targeted at the low-end where people are unwilling to buy heavily subsidized devices with long-term contracts, shouldn't T-Mobile be the most logical launch partner?