Analyst

Apple stock takes a hit after Wall Street hammers iPhone 5c ‘iPhlop’

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Wall Street is a curious bunch. Apple shares dropped by five percent Wednesday morning after analysts piled on with disappointment over the iPhone 5c.

Expecting an inexpensive smartphone costing $400 without a contract, Apple instead unveiled a device priced at $549 unsubsidized.

The departure from the expected script caused some industry observers to downgrade Apple's shares, citing worries the iPhone maker may have shot itself in the foot when it comes to inexpensive Android alternatives selling in places like China...

Rumor: Apple to release A7X-based iPad and iPad mini this year, lower-cost A6 mini in 2014

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

The oft-accurate Apple analyst has spoken again. KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo came down off of his proverbial mountain last night and sent out a letter to investors with some predictions regarding Apple's iPad plans for the end of this year, and the beginning of next.

Kuo, who as we've said before has a solid track record in predicting Apple's product plans, says that he believes we'll see two new tablets from the company this year: a fifth-generation iPad and a second-generation iPad mini. And both of them will have an A7X chipset...

Activist investor Carl Icahn could push Apple to buy Nuance

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

A lot of watchers hit the panic button after the billionaire investor Carl Icahn announced taking a "large position" in Apple (think north of $1 billion), which more often than not acts as a Wall Street code-word for impending board/CEO changes and hostile takeovers. But these people needn't worry if an article by the New York Post is anything to go by.

As it turns out, Icahn may be simply looking to leverage his newly acquired influence to force Apple into buying Nuance Communications, whose technology powers Siri's speech recognition. Icahn just recently has conveniently increased his stake in Nuance and now owns 16.4 percent of the company.

Coincidentally or not, the investor said that both Apple and Nuance in his view are currently undervalued...

Survey: iPhone 5C could give Apple lead in China

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

One Wall Street analyst has some comforting words for Apple fans watching the iPhone in China submerged under the waves of cheap Android smartphones: wait until the iPhone 5C arrives. Apple's highly-expected budget handset dubbed the iPhone 5C could pole-vault the Apple brand into first place, overcoming Samsung and other Google-powered devices.

The key to giving the iPhone the lead in China: the right price and wide availability. A Morgan Stanley survey of Chinese smartphone consumers suggests an iPhone costing about $486 and offered by China Mobile could give Apple's marketshare a double-digit boost...

Analyst: iPhone 5C to phase out iPhone 5, due on China Mobile in Q3

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 25, 2013

KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo has built a reputation of the most reliable Apple analyst out there who has accurately predicted a number of Apple product updates (sans the timetable).

He's out with a new report for clients Monday morning, sharing interesting observations regarding Apple's upcoming iPhone 5C, also known as the budget iPhone.

The biggest takeaway: the iPhone 5C will be priced between $400 and $500, which makes it a mid-tier handset rather than cheap, and is expected to be released to China Mobile's 700+ million subscribers in Fall, potentially accounting for penetration of TDD-LTE to 25 percent in iPhone 5S and 35 percent in iPhone 5C shipments...

Revered analyst calls for iPhone 5S with gold colorway,128GB option

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2013

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has sent out a note to investors this evening, updating his previous predictions for Apple's next smartphone. Kuo's track record with Apple product predictions is good, so what he says carries a fair amount of weight.

In the note, Kuo says he is expecting the iPhone 5S to feature the new A7 chip, 1GB of RAM, and a sapphire-covered Home button with a built-in fingerprint sensor—pretty standard stuff. But he also expects a gold colorway and a 128GB storage option...

There’s more to Apple’s rumored budget iPhone than just the price

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Are you ready for a break from the usual headlines concerning Apple's likely introduction of a low-cost iPhone? The perception of low-cost smartphones as some technological game of limbo between the iPhone maker and Google's Android is all wrong, says one analyst. Those thinking Apple needs to join the race to the bottom misunderstand that hardware price is not the overriding factor for every consumer shopping for a handset...

Joint iPhone 5S, 5C launch could be the most successful in Apple’s history

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

If you're still scratching your head trying to figure out why high profile investor Carl Icahn just made a [rumored] $1 billion investment in Apple, consider this: the stock is down more than $200 from where it was a year ago, despite any major missteps, and the company is about to have another big fall.

How big? Well rumor has it that Apple is going to unveil two new handsets during its big media event next month. There's the iPhone 5S, the successor to the current iPhone, and the 'iPhone 5C,' an all-new low-cost model. And analysts believe that the two will make for Apple's biggest product launch ever...

Analyst: iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor limited to user authentication, secure payments due in 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 13, 2013

The upcoming iPhone 5S revision, likely slated for an announcement at Apple's upcoming September 10 media event, is widely expected to include the fingerprint scanning feature based on Apple's 2012 acquisition of smart sensor experts AuthenTec.

Now, there's been a lot of uncertainty as to what software features the smart sensor might support.

According to a research note issued late yesterday to clients, an analyst predicted the feature would be initially used to authenticate users in place of the iOS slide-to-unlock feature because rumored secure payments which are dependent on the smart sensor won't be ready in time for the iPhone 5S introduction...

Without iPhone exclusive, China Unicom now turns to low-cost handsets

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 9, 2013

There is a surge of demand for low-cost smartphones in China. Latest to ride the wave: local carrier China Unicom, which lost its exclusive deal to sell iPhones in 2012.

Apparently, the shift toward inexpensive phones is paying off, the company reporting a 55 percent jump in profits for the first half of 2013.

While there is still room for high-end smartphones, vast growth is seen selling inexpensive handsets to emerging markets, such as China and India. Apple could unveil a plastic iPhone aimed at first-time smartphone owners and still make "decent profitability" one analyst said Thursday...

For this analyst, Apple needs both low-cost iPhone and iPhablet to stay ahead of curve

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Although Apple managed to surprise investors with better-than-expected iPhone sales, some observers see a more daunting future for the flagship Apple smartphone.

Apple's global smartphone marketshare may have fallen by some estimates to as low as fourteen percent amid increasing pressure from rivals seeking higher margins and more sales.

Strategy Analytics describes the iPhone being "trapped in a pincer movement" between Android cheapos and high-end monster phones with five-inch screens. In other words, as iPhone competitors that churn out inexpensive handsets increasingly march toward the mid-range in hopes of gaining more profit, Apple's high-end rivals are now moving toward the middle, seeking increased sales...

Analyst: iPad 5/iPhone 5S/budget model in September, no Retina iPad mini in 2013

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 22, 2013

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is fast becoming the de facto most reliable Apple watcher. Expanding on his April note which advised investors to brace themselves for a delayed iDevice roll-out over manufacturing "challenges," his just-updated shipments timetable now offers more in way of detail.

Long story short, the analyst is expecting the iPhone 5S in late-September, but in limited quantity, with the oft-rumored plastic iPhone (he's calling it an 'iPhone Lite') becoming available even sooner than the iPhone 5S in early-September because its chassis is easier to make than the two-tone iPhone 5S design.

Early September will also bring us an updated iPad 5, he said, but there will be no iPad mini successor this year due to engineering issues. As for the Mac family, Kuo sees a mid-September launch of a Haswell-enabled Retina MacBook Pro, with a Haswell-driven iMac up for a late-August introduction. The full breakdown is right after the break...