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What's Apple up to?

Is it time to phase out the iPhone 5s and tap the affordability segment? Analysts pour in some observations

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Pratima Harigunani
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Apple is in the air today and why not. A new launch, a lot of anticipation and incidentally a big face-off with the regulators running in parallel - all the reason for the industry to keep an ear out for Apple slices.

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Analysts have started sharing their observations on how big or small these slices can be.

"Apple has mastered the art of managing the lifecycle of its product portfolio, not only to extend product life through software in order to maximize profitability, and also has a great sense of time-to-market,” Thomas Husson from Forrester said as shared in a media update. “Before making more significant announcements at its developer conference, and the likely introduction of a new iPhone in Q3, Apple is expected to launch a more compact 4-inch screen smartphone.”

Anshul Gupta, Research Director, Gartner feels that the iPhone SE will help Apple broaden their market segment. Users will be able to buy a phone with latest features which is very different from buying an older version at lower price. "I think this will appeal more people to buy an Apple phone who otherwise couldn’t afford their flagship phone. This will make market more competitive at that price point as Apple is preparing to take more share.”

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“Not all consumers favor phablets and larger screens, which have been particularly popular in Asia, and there is still demand for smaller devices,” Husson reckons in his post. “It's time to progressively phase out the iPhone 5s and, given slower growth in the high-end smartphone segment, to launch a more affordable device. Expect the quality of the iPhone 6, but in compact form.”

Apple can cut and paste much of the technology from the iPad Pro to the now mid-sized iPad as analysts have highlighted in their blog posts. There is possibility that despite unit sales having declined, the iPad will not fade away because many buyers of early iPads will likely start replacing them causing tablet and iPad sales to stabilize.

Meanwhile do not expect any comments on the legal battle with the US government over encryption -- as that would take away attention from the products being unveiled, reminds Frank Gillett from Forrester. "Apple is hosting a low-key event on its own campus to launch new products, but will likely save any software and services announcements for its annual developer conference in June."

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