Apple has so far been rumoured to launch at least three new iPhone models this year. Rumours are rife that the iPhone trio will include an updated iPhone X with 5.8-inch OLED display, a bigger ‘iPhone X Plus’ model with 6.5-inch OLED display, and a 6.1-inch model with an LCD display. The 6.1-inch iPhone model will fall under the mid-range and have features borrowed from iPhone X and iPhone 8. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has now shared additional information on this iPhone model that it is expected this year. According to him, the 6.1-inch model will have an aluminium chassis, a single-lens rear camera, and no 3D Touch, unlike the other models. This iPhone model will also lack many iPhone X’s features like OLED display, which will be replaced by an LCD display. Furthermore, the price of the 6.1-inch iPhone model will be somewhere between $700 and $800 and will launch in the second half of 2018.
According to a Ming-Chi Kuo research note, obtained by MacRumors, the 6.1-inch iPhone model will be a toned-down version of the iPhone X and will lack many advanced features. The first trade-off will be an LCD display instead of OLED display, however, there will be a bezel-less design and a ‘notch’ to incorporate sensors for Face ID. In line with Kuo’s report, Japan’s Commercial Times reports that this iPhone model will pack an advanced LCD technology manufactured by Japan Display. Japan Display will make 6-inch displays with a 1080×2160 resolution, which implies that the length of this model will not be as high as the iPhone X that comes with a bigger resolution to justify the display size.
He further expects this iPhone model to come with an aluminium frame, similar to the iPhone 8, along with the compact rectangular battery and a non-stacked logic board design under the hood, unlike the iPhone X. in addition, the new 6.1-inch model will come without 3D Touch, which seems a surprising move as Apple has been using this technology on iPhone 6s and above models. the iPhone model will further have a single-lens camera and 3GB of RAM, says Kuo’s report.
The 6.1-inch iPhone model will cost between $700-$800 in the US, which is a higher than KGI’s previous estimates of $650-$750. On the launch timeline, this iPhone model is expected to launch in September-October, alongside the other two iPhone models, while the shipments are expected to begin in time like the previous iPhone models, according to Kuo’s note. While the iPhone 6.1-inch will be targeted at the mid-range for the buyers, Kuo notes that it will account for around 50 percent of the newer iPhone models’ sales, which will go stronger in 2019 as well.
For the specifications, the newer iPhone models are expected to pack specifications similar to the iPhone X, which was launched last year. The new iPhone lineup will see the 6.5-inch iPhone model, speculated to be called the iPhone X Plus, at the top, the refreshed version of iPhone X with 5.8-inch OLED display, and at the bottom will be the 6.1-inch iPhone model with a Full Active LCD display, which is seen on the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2. All the three devices will come with Face ID technology and a ‘notch’ on the top to include the sensors required for Face ID face-unlock technology to work.