iPhone 6 iPhone 5S Release Date Rumors: Summer or September Release? New Features, Lower Pricing Speculated
New reports suggested that Apple's next iPhone rumored to be called iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, may be released later this summer, MacWorld reported Thursday.
The rumor echoes reports in May that the next generation of the iPhone may arrive in late summer, likely in September.
The tech giant reportedly gave Sharp the contract to mass-produce the LCD panels for the next iPhone in June at a plant in Kameyama, Japan, according to a report from Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun.
In March, Peter Misek, an analyst for Jeffries, said that the release of iPhone 6 would be delayed from June or July to September. There were apparently issues with suppliers being able to produce the five new color options rumored to be in the works.
Rumors have circulated that Apple will release the successor to iPhone 5, iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, which would be made of less expensive materials so that it would come in at a lower price point, International Business Times reported.
Taiwanese Apple news website Apple.pro leaked images in May of what it claimed to be the iPhone 6. The product as pictured looked similar to an iPhone 5 but featured a shiny plastic exterior.
According to CNET, analyst Brian White noted that the iPhone 6 will likely launch in 2014 and will have a larger screen size than the 4-inch display found on the iPhone 5.
White believes that the new low-cost iPhone is the iPhone 5S and would come in four or five different colors, which he believed to be white, black, blue and pink.
A less pricey iPhone would be targeted to markets where the traditional iPhone is too pricey for the average consumer.
Reuters reported in May that Pegatron, the company that makes iPhone, said it will increase its workforce in China by up to 40 percent during the second half of the year, leading to speculation that the new iPhone will release in the fall.
