It’s been two years since Apple made a new iPhone in the size I prefer. One that fits comfortably in my pocket. One whose top row of icons I can reach with my thumb.
Although you can still buy the 4-inch iPhone 5S on Apple’s website, its specs date back to 2013: An A7 chip, 8 megapixel camera, no touch-free payment. What I want, as I told Tim Cook et al. Last summer, is a retro iPhone with all the modern trimmings. (See Dear Apple, please don’t kill the 4-inch iPhone.)
So I’m following with interest the latest rumor out of Apple’s Asian supply chain. It comes from KGI Research’s Ming-Chi Kuo, the same Taiwanese analyst who correctly predicted last May that Apple would, for the second September in a row, ship only iPhones in the 4.7-inch and 5-inch sizes a lot of customers seem to prefer.
According to MacRumors, Kuo has changed his tune. He now believes Apple will be making a 4-inch iPhone after all, one with the up-to-date specs. Kuo expects the new model to ship in early 2016, possibly in March or April.
The early launch could help iPhone suppliers, Kuo says, giving them something to produce in quantity during the iPhone’s slowest season.
Sounds good to me.
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at coins2day.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.You might also want to subscribe to Data Sheet, Coins2Day’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.