Apple’s next iPhone, the iPhone 5S is in the works and if sources on the Internet are to be believed, the shipment of the components for the smartphone will begin at the end of May. The iPhone 5S is expected to hit store shelves sometime in September.
September is the speculated timeline because the iPhone 5 hit store shelves in September 2012. The DigiTimes report reads, “The new iPhone will not receive a major upgrade and may just be a slightly enhanced version of iPhone 5 (iPhone 5S), the sources said citing their latest specification data. Meanwhile, there are also rumors stating that Apple also plans to release an iPhone model using plastic chassis to push its global smartphone market share, the sources added.”
Apple has been losing market share to Android because Android powered smartphones are available starting from Rs. 5,000 all the way up to Rs. 45,000 running Google’s mobile OS. So a “cheaper” iPhone does make sense. Earlier in January, we have seen reports on the Internet, which suggest that Apple may be working on a low cost iPhone. There have however been no further developments to these rumours.
The report also suggests that if the component shipment is smooth, manufacturers will be able to deliver the iPhone 5S to retailers in a matter of 1 to 2 weeks. DigiTimes also says “Apple is expected to ship 25-30 million iPhone 5s in the first quarter, down from 45 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012.”
It is no shocker that the iPhone 5S will be an incremental upgrade as it has been the case with all the “S” iterations of the iPhone, be it the iPhone 3GS or the iPhone 4S. What remains to be seen is what these upgrades are. We have seen the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. Both are Android powered flagship smartphones of the respective manufacturer and bring with them a slew of features in addition to the upgraded hardware. Both the smartphones are expected to go on sale by April. Some speculations also suggest that the iPhone 5S may be unveiled earlier than September and seeing the trend of competing smartphones, this may actually turn into reality.
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