We can add more rumors to the iPhone 5 pile in terms of an October release as we’ve just learned that China Telecom might be landing the Apple smartphone that month. Apparently, China Telecom has entered into a “preliminary agreement” with Apple to sell the iPhone 5 before the end of October, along with a simplified version of the iPhone 4. Perhaps the latter will be an 8GB version selling alongside with the iPhone 5, much like the 3GS when the iPhone 4 was released.
Why release two versions of the Apple smartphone? AllThingsD reports:
Targeting the smartphone market’s upper and lower ends like this could prove a wise strategy. “We estimate the high-end portion of China Telecom’s subscriber base is approximately 13 to 15 million, which represents a current revenue opportunity for the iPhone of $8- to $9 billion,” White says. “We view this as the most reasonable near-term addressable market opportunity for Apple’s iPhone. However, if Apple offers a more economical, ‘simplified iPhone 4,’ the opportunity with China Telecom could be much larger.”
Seeing an iPhone 4 with a lower memory capacity launch with the new version of the smartphone won’t be a surprise, but it’s a good move for Apple in a country where there is plenty of room in the low-end mobile market.
If the rumors are true, were just two very short months away from the launch of the iPhone 5. Apple’s usual cycle has been to release the phone every summer, but when WWDC rolled around this year and there was no iPhone announcement, the tech press went nuts with rumors and speculation. So far, we believe that the design of the iPhone 5 will be dramatically different from the current model, but like a hybrid of the current and previous generation. It might pack an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash, and it should also be sporting the dual-core A5 processor that is found in the iPad 2.
With each passing day and the flurry of rumors that come along, it gets harder and harder to wait.