Apple Leak

There’s a lot to be excited about with Apple AAPL -1.31%’s upcoming iPhone overhaul, and its cutting-edge budget model in particular. That said, new information reveals there will be two significant casualties from Apple’s upgrades…

July 11th: Bluefin has clarified its report to say the future of the iPhone SE remains known and it is the iPhone SE2 which Apple has decided to cancel. That said, this obviously throws up major doubts the iPhone SE itself will now survive, something acclaimed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also

BlueFin Research Partners report (via Barron’s) that Apple will cancel both the current iPhone X and the iPhone SE when its new iPhones launch in September. This will mark a sharp break from the company’s strategy of leaving the previous generation of iPhone on sale to provide customers with cheaper upgrade options.

What has motivated Apple to do this? Apparently, overwhelming confidence.

BlueFin says Apple is so sure of demand for its second-generation iPhone X (details), new iPhone X Plus (details) and budget iPhone X (details) that it is “planning for 91 million units to be built” in the final two quarters of 2017 and “another 92 million units in the first two quarters of next year”.

The researchers note this is “far larger than normal cycles” though it still suggests Apple will struggle to keep up with user demand as in Q4 2017 and Q1 2018 Apple sold 46M and 72M iPhones respectively.

As confident as Apple may be, however, what the BlueFin report shows is the company effectively pulling out of the midrange smartphone market and that is going to upset some users

Notably, the iPhone SE currently retails for just $350 and while a so-called ‘budget iPhone X’ sounds promising, in reality, it is budget-friendly only in that it will retain many iPhone X features (and few compromises) for the same price tag as an iPhone 8. That phone starts at $699.

This is like Ferrari releasing a ‘budget’ model: It may be cheap-for-a-Ferrari, but that doesn’t mean it is actually cheap.

Then again, if you can afford Apple’s latest and greatest smartphones you’ll be pleased to know pricing for two flagship models is no longer out of control...

© www.forbes.com

by - Gordon Kelly.....