Here’s the logic for a cheaper iPhone and the possible end of the iPod Touch this Fall:
On Tuesday TUAW reported that iOS 5 firmware referenced 2 new iPad models (3,1, and 3,2), as well as 2 unreleased iPhone models (4,1, and 4,2) that were seen in January.1 Also interesting is that no new iPod 5,1 references have been found.2This doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it is out of the ordinary for no references to have been found for an Apple product this close to historical launch patterns. Generally next generation Apple products are seen referenced in firmware roughly 8-10 months prior to release.3 This would put the next iPhone launching sometime between August and October, which also coincides with most expectations. There is no way an iPod is being held back past next spring’s iPad launch based on this 8-10 month pattern.
Another interesting piece of information is that the next generation iPhone isexpected to be a GSM/CDMA world phone. If this is the case, there shouldn’t be a need for a GSM 4,1 and CDMA 4,2, so what is the iPhone 4,2? Though it is possible that there would be another variant to include China’s own TD-SCDMA and WAPI, or a US version including T-Mobile or LTE, but this could also be a cheaper iPhone to replace the iPod Touch. Tim Cook recently said that Apple would figure out the prepaid market and that it didn’t want its products to be just for the rich…
I have no insider information or sources and I’m just speculating based on information and rumors, but I think there is a good chance that we’ll finally see a significantly cheaper iPhone this fall, though it is possible it will come out next year instead. I think this will be the long rumored iPhone Nano (though it won’t likely be named that). I don’t necessarily think this means it will be smaller. It will have cheaper components such as perhaps not including a retina display, having a slower processor, and less storage. This will be necessary since a prepaid phone will not be subsidized. It may only need a prepaid data plan like the iPad and will use iMessage rather than SMS and maybe even FaceTime without the ‘face’ for calls. Recently there has been some potential evidence that FaceTime will work over cellular data in iOS 5. Apple said last year that FaceTime would be wifi-only in 2010.
1 There is also a never released iPhone 3,2 that was found last year that may have been a GSM/CDMA variant. It’s also possible that this was released as the China phone with WIFI and WAPI, though I haven’t seen any information backing that.
2 Next-gen iPhone is 4,1 while iPod would be 5,1 because iPhone 3G was referenced as iPhone 1,2.
3 New Apple products such as the iPad before it was released wasn’t called iPad 1,1 in firmware, but rather iProd 1,1, and these don’t necessarily show up in firmware on the same schedule.
