They may not grab the headlines as much as Apple’s big selling flagship iPhones, but the cheaper options in Apple’s smartphone lineup are important for all manner of reasons, especially in the face of ever-increasing competition from so many Android phone makers. Apple didn’t launch a new 4-inch iPhone alongside its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus this past September, but new rumors have one on the horizon.
Dubbed the iPhone 5s Mark II by prolific Japanese blog Mac Otakara, the new 4-inch device is said to be based on the existing iPhone 5s model but with some notable upgrades in order to make the device more capable, with iOS 9 now available and the next version of Apple’s mobile OS set to arrive next year.
Those upgrades, according to the generally reliable Mac Otakara, include Apple’s A8 chip rather than something a little newer, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 and a FaceTime HD camera with improved ƒ/2.2 aperture. 3D Touch is most likely to be excluded from its list of upgrades in order to keep the feature exclusive to the company’s front-line smartphone duo.
With a new 4-inch phone now looking increasingly likely, the release date is an interesting thing to consider with new flagship iPhones having just arrived on the market. Taking that into consideration, it looks increasingly likely that Apple will break its existing product release cycle and launch its new, smaller iPhone in early 2016. Whether Apple will then continue to launch high-end and low-end iPhones at differing intervals beyond that remains to be seen, but it would make a modicum of sense in the regard that Apple will likely be aware of the possibility that cheaper iPhone models might get lost in all the hoopla surrounding new flagship releases.
Whatever happens and whenever it occurs, a new 4-inch iPhone does look to be on the horizon. Just don’t expect it to give the iPhone 6s a run for its money.
(Source: Mac Otakara [Google Translate])
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