The rumored budget iPhone with a 6.1-inch LCD screen is expected to launch in multiple colors,accordingto influential analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, and now a new report offers additional info.
The fairly reliable Japanese blogMac Otakara(Google Translate) corroborated Kuo’s report Wednesday, but added that the 6.1-inch LCD device will be offered in colors that are slightly different than what Kuo suggested and more in line with the color scheme of Apple’s iPhone leather case lineup.
Here’s what Mac Otakara and Kuo predicted each, plus the original iPhone 5c colors and Apple’s leather and silicone case color scheme for comparison’s sake:
Mac Otakara
Ming-Chi Kuo
iPhone leather case
iPhone silicone case
iPhone 5c colors
Here’s the first TV commercial for iPhone 5c.
iDownloadBlog also expects a gold model to be added to the iPhone X lineup this year.
Seeing these colors, it would make sense to provide the upcoming budget LCD phone (it’s expected to retail for around $700) in color choices similar to those of the iPhone Leather Case lineup, just like they did with iPhone 5c and its accompanying first-party cases (Apple even color-matched the iOS wallpaper to the iPhone 5c color).
What about PRODUCT(RED), you ask?
As you can see, there’s no red on Mac Otakara’s or Kuo’s list but there’s a perfectly viable explanation for that. Apple, like many other smartphone manufacturers, leverages color as a marketing tool to boost sales of their flagship devices just as sales begin to drop in anticipation of upgraded models.
In Apple’s case, they typically release a PRODUCT(RED) model after the lineup has been on sale for about six months. Adding a new color to the iPhone lineup mid-cycle generates a slew of all-new blog posts, news stories and YouTube videos that help re-new interest for the smartphone long after the initial wave of excitement has died down.
For more on that, I suggest watching MKBHD’s video embedded above.
