Apple will be adopting this LCD iPhone philosophy in 2019 as well to boost sales.
It has been rumored for quite some time that Apple will be launching three new iPhones in 2018, wherein one model will have an LCD display while the other two will have OLEDs. As per a report, Apple is placing its bets on the lower priced 6.1-inch LCD variant to represent a majority of the sales.
According to some reports last year, the iPhone X did not have a very successful sales journey since hitting stores from 3 November globally. The massive $1000 price tag might have been a very big factor in this and it would seem that Apple might be thinking along the same lines.
The report by The Wall Street Journal states that Apple is taking into account the « sign of consumers’ sensitivity to the price of smartphones, ». The FaceID technology and related hardware aside, Apple’s OLED screen is very expensive to manufacture as it curves at the bottom to join with the motherboard giving the iPhone X a bezel-less bottom. This gave a big price bump to the iPhone X.
As per the report, sources in the Apple supply chain have said that this year a lot more LCD models will be manufactured as compared to the OLEDs as Apple expects a high customer demand for the low-priced LCD iPhone.
Apple will be adopting this philosophy next year as well wherein it plans to keep one LCD variant in the 2019 lineup of iPhones. This will mainly be to keep an affordable iPhone handy for boosting sales.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a former KGI analyst and a reliable source on all Apple-related products, has said, as per a report by Macrumors that the 2018 iPhone X will be given a starting price tag of $900 and the reported iPhone X Plus will have a starting price tag of $1000. The cheaper 6.1-inch LCD variant will have a starting price of $600, according to Kuo.
Kuo also stated in the report that the 6.1-inch iPhone will have a notch on the top which will house the true depth camera system for face authentication. However, as mentioned there will be an LCD display instead of OLED, the absence of 3D touch and a single camera system at the back. No word on whether the internal hardware will remain the same as the iPhone X or not. We shall keep you updated on the story as it develops.
