
Throwing yet another curve-ball in the iPhone 5 news and rumor pipeline is prominent industry analyst Shaw Wu, who says that checks with supply chain sources overseas indicate that Apple's 5th generation iPhone may pack bigger upgrades in the forthcoming refresh than we presently imagine.
Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu this morning tries to answer the question “Why would a customer consider buying an iPhone 5″ from Apple (AAPL) if “there is a 4G LTE iPhone down the corner,” referring to the prospect Apple will eventually sell a model that uses the faster fourth-generation wireless networking speeds.
So, is Apple ready to drop a 4G LTE bomb on iPhone buyers with this fall's new release? "We continue to pick up indication that it will not likely incorporate 4G LTE due to battery life issues and spotty network coverage. And ironically, if anyone is in a position to fix these weaknesses, it would be AAPL.”
So what are the "dramatic" improvements and other re-design attributes Wu hints at? According to the analyst (who has a pretty good track record on Apple product predictions), the screen will be bigger than most expect, and thinner than we're used to. Other details? None were provided. But that's the latest scoop from inside the insider's den.
Source: Barron's
Message