Is Apple about to switch things up? With the company’s ugly 2019 iPhone redesign now a stone-cold certainty, a genuinely surprising report reveals Apple is designing a very different iPhone which millions will want.
Popular Chinese site Global Times delivers the head-turning news that Apple will launch a new budget-friendly iPhone which drops Face ID in favour of an in-display Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The phone is tipped to launch first in China, but it has the potential to be a worldwide smash.
Little else is known about the iPhone at this stage, but Global Times’ source states the motivation for the phone is to “save on costs” as it battles to win back Chinese market share. In recent years local brands Huawei, Oppo and Vivo have taken control by mixing cutting-edge designs with prices that substantially undercut Apple’s iPhones.
The move would make sense. Global Times notes that over 85% of the Chinese market belongs to smartphones priced under 4,000 yuan ($580). Apple used to cover that market with the iPhone SE when it launched at just $399, but the company’s subsequent strategy of filling the gap with iPhones several generations old does not seem to be working.
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