Friday, June 6, 2014

New iPhone 6 release date: When will the iPhone 6 come out?

The iPhone line-up gets refreshed roughly once a year. The iPhone 6 is therefore likely to launch in 2014, around a year later than the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, which were unveiled on 10 September 2013 and hit the shelves on 20 September.
While we've heard lots of general predictions of the iPhone 6 launch date, there have been no specific dates, until now. German carrier Deutsche Telekom has allegedly told Apple blog Apfelpage.de that the iPhone 6 will be released on 19 September, after being announced by Apple on 9 September. We can't be certain that this rumour is true, but it seems like a pretty solid guess to us, so definitely don't rule it out.
Some analysts and Apple watchers had suggested that the iPhone 6 would arrive at Apple's WWDC event, but Apple actually didn't announce any hardware during the event, sticking to showing off iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite instead.
One recent release date rumour suggests that Apple may decide to launch the 4.7in iPhone 6 in August, followed by a bigger, 5.5in model in September. These rumours come from Taiwan's Economic Daily News, which claims that unnamed supply-chain sources say an August iPhone event is possible.
We think it's unlikely that Apple will launch two iPhones within such a short period of time, unless it decides to unveil both iPhones at an August event with the first, smaller model becoming available to buy sooner than the 5.5in model, which would go on sale slightly later.
It's believed that Apple retail stores have begun blacking out holiday dates for employees in September, which is usually a sign that something big is coming on those dates – probably the iPhone 6. That's according to iFun, which cites anonymous sources in its report that suggests a September launch for iPhone 6 is happening after all.
In February during MWC in Barcelona, Apple grabbed headlines when an analyst claimed that the new iPhone 6 will launch in July. "The next generation phones could come out in July this year," said Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba. "The earlier launch will be helpful for Apple as it will ensure significant availability and distribution of the new device during the holiday season."
Lamba also reiterates claims that Apple could be looking to launch multiple models of the new iPhone, with screen sizes ranging from 4.7in to 5.5in (more on this on page 2).
According to rumours from Asia, Apple in May ordered 15 per cent of its 4.7in iPhone 6 from Pegatron. Commercial Times reports that Pegatron will continue to manufacture the iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S as well as the portion of iPhone 6 units.
The calls for Apple to release its new iPhone 6 earlier than the usual September time frame are also coming from Sony's mobile chief, Pierre Perron, of all people. Perron told The Inquirer: Apple is "missing out" by only releasing yearly iPhone refreshes, instead of flooding the market with incremental updates every few months. Perron believes that people will always want the most up to date phone and technology moves more rapidly than a yearly cycle allows.
Forbes contributor Chuck Jones has also suggested that Apple shouldn't wait until September to announce the iPhone 6, because competition means the company is losing sales to competitors with bigger-screened smartphones.
Whenever the iPhone 6 arrives, it's expected to be a big one, both in size and popularity. According to research firm ISI, we're about to see "the 'mother lode' of all Apple upgrade cycles" when Apple releases two new iPhones with bigger screens this year. It's thought that iPhone 6 sales may be 20 per cent higher than iPhone 5s.
"'Large-screen envy' is prevalent among the iPhone installed base and we believe a 5in form-factor iPhone would spark a massive upgrade cycle as well as many 'Android switchers' returning back to the iPhone," said ISI.
Overall, we think that the September launch option is most plausible based on Apple's launch history.
Either way, an Apple fan and blogger in Japan was keen to be first in line for the iPhone 6, so actually turned up outside an Apple Store in Ginza to wait for the new iPhone to launch. However, his wait was short-lived, as he soon discovered he might haveto wait for seven months, an idea that seems to have put him off. I expect we'll see him return a bit nearer the release date!

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