Apple's next iPhone launch to be the biggest consumer electronics launch ever

While Apple’s iPhone launch event may not bring the wild skydiving and repelling stunts from the Google Glass demo, it will bring significant dollars into Apple’s pockets. Wells Fargo analysts have made the bold prediction that the next iPhone launch will be the biggest product launch in consumer electronics history. Bigger than any TV, Walkman, computer or phone launch ever made. This isn’t exactly a stretch, as the mobile market is growing rapidly at the moment, and there are millions of iPhone 4s and 4S’s out there just waiting to be upgraded. Moreover, there’s still a pretty significant number of feature phone owners likely looking to upgrade to smartphones the next time their line is eligible.The market is there, but what about the competition?

With RIM delaying BlackBerry 10 to early next year and consumers shying away from the Windows Phone platform, Apple’s next iPhone may continue Apple’s seemingly impossible streak of record-shattering earnings. The next iPhone has a lot to get excited about as well, with a revamped iOS 6 platform, a jump to a 4″ display, and the addition of NFC and LTE. Of course, Apple’s got some competition; Samsung has recently started selling the Android-based Galaxy S III, and sales are reported to be off the charts. And with Samsung recently stealing Apple’s crown as “King of Smartphones,” that could amount to record-breaking sales for the Galaxy S III as well. Android currently has over 50% of the smartphone market share, and the platform is only getting better with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Project Butter.

So with competition heating up, will Apple’s next iPhone launch be the biggest consumer electronics launch of all time? They’ve certainly got the right formula, and people still want iPhones and iPads. iPhones, iPads, and iPods are still the most sought after products in their respective industries, and that fact alone may suggest that Apple may just be able to pull it off. One thing’s for sure; even if it’s not the “biggest consumer electronics launch ever,” it’s certainly going to sell like hotcakes and make Apple a crapton of money. And isn’t that really all that matters?

[via MobileSyrup, Computer World, StreetInsider]

About The Author

Anthony Domanico

Anthony is a freelance tech journalist covering the mobile beat. He has used all operating systems in existence today, and currently rocks the iPhone 5, Nexus 7, and iPad mini.

Ken1ceo

Apple has too much pressure and hype to succeed. If the iPhone 5 release is viewed as a me-too product Apple will see a loss in growth and take a hit in its stock. This may be the beginning of the end.
- Just me
  
  Don’t kid yourself. Surface, Win 8 Fone, other derivative trash has FAR more pressure. As in, MSFT starts really coasting downhill much faster than it already is.
  
  There is no profit left for them. Apple has the high end (mac book pro) AND the low end with the iPad. Checkmate. Who is going to pay $400 for Office? LOL
  - Anonymous
    
    mac os is $50, so who in their right minds would buy windows 7 ultimate for $300?
    
    the microsoft fans keep wishing for the “beginning of the end”, but by the time they wake up to the difference between “cheap” and “value”, the mac will no longer be available. (some analysts predict that ios will cannibalize the mac market, and make even more money for apple.)
http://www.facebook.com/letsholo Ofentse Letsholo

Well I don’t think consumers are “shying away from Windows Phone”…they just like me are waiting for the Lumias running WP8… but in a way i do agree whichu that the next iPhone no matter how rubbish it is, it will sell well.
Izdanny Danno

Yeah i dont think consumers are “shying away” from windows phone, people are just waiting for windows phone 8 devices for verizon, and sprint
- Bpicke
  
  LOL, sure.
Ldzman218

That article stank of sensationalism. I would call you a muck-raker, but the only muck here is the iPhone
- Bpicke
  
  Go take Journalism 101, because Muck racking and Sensationalism aren’t exactly the same thing.
Jay

“repelling stunts” – what a funny spelling error.
Jay

“repelling stunts” – what a funny spelling error.
Jay

“repelling stunts” – what a funny spelling error.
Jay

“repelling stunts” – what a funny spelling error.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1368032580 James E. Burkett

Apple’s iPhone5 and iOS6 will be outdated by the time they are released, with the exception of the screen on the iPhone5. The processor, the OS itself, the memory, everything. iOS6 “features” and “innovations” have been around for months and years with respect to which “innovation” we are speaking of… I don’t have to tell you where all these “amazing” feats have Already been accomplished, have I? Apple’s reign was over the day Samsung took over as the world’s number 1 smartphone manufacturer, and their constant grappling over bullsh*t software patents in court won’t help them any. They cannot innovate anymore, so the lawsuits started. People will surely buy the iPhone but only because it is Apple- Not because it does any more than what any other high end smartphone doesn’t already do TODAY.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/Q2YGH7VE55U5BAPD7CXSCMLYZI Justin
  
  w hours. G? to this web si?e and ?ead mor?
- http://profile.yahoo.com/Q2YGH7VE55U5BAPD7CXSCMLYZI Justin
  
  My bestfriend is making $50/HR online. It’s
  been 1 year that she has no work wow the other day she made $1000 for a few
  hours. I think the site was C&#97shLazy.c&#111m
- Ss1591
  
  So you think Apple will not have innovations in the new iPhone5 and they spend all their time grappling over bullsh*t patents? One thing people never take into account with computers is if you write good clean code for a single device both storage and processor speed don’t have to always be the fastest and in many cases slower is better with handheld devices that get shaken / beaten over time. Apple only has to write code for a single unit that all share the same drivers and hardware. When Google releases code for 20 different manufacturers with 5 phones each the software needs all of the extra storage and processor speed it can find just to do the job. My poor old Apple stock is making me very happy with how their products are doing and received by the public. Just think Apple is doing more with just a single phone and iPad then almost every other company combined.
  
  Go Apple!
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1368032580 James E. Burkett
    
    You have stock in Apple. Your opinion is officially moot.
- Anonymous
  
  “today” android is still a lot rougher around the edges than ios, and has fewer, and less polished, apps.
  
  samsung is a big company and has a lot of money to promote its hardware, but it still relies on someone else’s os.
  
  in the context of a gushy article like this, about “the biggest consumer electronis launch ever”, i guess it’s fair to bash apple.
  
  if that’s what turns yer crank.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1368032580 James E. Burkett
    
    Yeah you got me… Apple has many more bullsh*t games to play than Android. If you look in the Play store, you might find things to extend the functionality of your device beyond what the manufacturer intended. Take a gander at the apple store and you’ll find all kinds of nice looking apps that you can play with…. And not much else. Who cares what they look like if they don’t do anything useful but waste your time (and money)?
    
    Who cares whose OS is in the Samsung phone? You’re just mad that that OS is smashing any record Apple ever thought to set.
    
    With Android 4.0 and 4.1, your “rough around the edges” argument is getting weaker and weaker. Find something else to argue your case besides “my screen scrolls better”, because Android 4.1 took care of that… So not only does my OS scroll just as nicely as yours, it looks better, more up-to-date, and it is far and away more functional than yours.
    
    I’m not bashing anyone- I’m telling the truth. Hang onto your iOS. When iOS6 comes along, they will be playing catch-up… And failing against Android’s OS. I think they have been doing that ever since 2.3 really, but Android is obliterating your prized OS by now. Scrolling and all.
    - Anonymous
      
      i’m glad that android 4.1 scrolls well – i’m sure that’s a great technological achievement, and a significant enhancement to your lifestyle. most people just take low-level functionality for granted. when it works.
      
      but that’s not what i was talking about. i was talking about a 30-year programming veteran, who actually LIKES to fiddle with stuff, who found android confused and confusing, and “not ready for the general public”.
      
      as for “bullsh*t games”, i don’t play very many (about half a dozen, all puzzles, and all free), but the sheer number of apps is heavily in ios’ favour, but i’m certainly glad that many of them are “coming to android soon”.
      
      i’ve also been around the software business long enough to NOT fall for the “real soon now” nonsense that you’re tripping on.
      - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1368032580 James E. Burkett
        
        Uh you’re an idiot. The sheer number of (useless) apps doesn’t make your ecosystem better. If a 30 year programming veteran picked up Android, and said it wasn’t ready for the general public, maybe he could tell that to the (more than a million per day) people activating it, who tend to disagree with him. Real soon? This is NOW. Your OS is trash as of Right NOW, not Real Soon.
    - TheDIsDead
      
      Enjoy an inferior product and your desperate defense of it. Apple is a better product whether you know it or just can’t admit it.
- Comedydev
  
  S-III runs on free OS, copies the design/shape and almost all from iPhone and still is priced at the highest. Now m i missing something here or are you just ignorant on how to translate costs into price. Samsung is milking the market and wonder who is sheep here.
ashi

very eagerly waiting for the iphone to get into the market tired of that plastic looks of samsung with is selling huge !!!! just hate samsung waiting for apple to come up with a product with unique features and that will really shock every one and as usual it will sell millions and the stock prices will go much higher than expected
John

This website stinks of apple fandom and drivel. Won’t be visiting again, and that goes for both writer and commenters.

Thanks.
- TheDIsDead
  
  What a whiner.
Marie

Sheeple of the world, your heads are buried in sand and your asses are going to get burned royally . These new phones are the equivalent of the nano chip they want to inject into your hand or forehead. Nothing more than a control center you walk around with held in your hand. Everything you do, say or everywhere you go, or anything you eat is stored info. Your med records. EVERYTHING SHEEPLE TO CONTROL YOU! To eliminate you should they choose to. FUBAR
Patrick

So many Apple lovers here… For you Android Haters out there, you better start getting used to Android 4.1, because Jellybean is here to stay for some time. With Google adding the finishing polishes to its current iteration of the OS, they’re needing fewer updates to get to the goal OS. A lot of Apple fans complain about Android’s fragmentation, which at this rate, is getting better. Google has already started rolling out in-OS support for easier updates, and with new versions becoming fewer and further apart, well, they’re going to start seeing their glory days.

As for Apple, I can feel the end coming. You shake it off and say “No, it’s not the end”, but at this rate, it’s becoming apparent that Apple is starting to lose this race. Back in 2007, nobody could touch the iPhone. Until and even up to the iPhone 4, it was simply the best phone in the market. Well now things are changing, and there are several phones that now outdo the iPhone, and the iPhone 4s did little to change that. If it continues at this rate, Apple will be overshadowed in the next few years because they failed to keep up in a race they created. Unless they really prove the rest wrong and release an iteration of the phone that simply blows all phones away (again), then they’re at a disadvantage. Same thing will happen with tablets. Then laptops. Then everything in between.
Azim

Am eagerly (tik tok) awaiting release of iphone 5 ……..
Victor Chaves

Oh my…a whole internet page created by iZombies for iZombies.