I highly doubt there will be 3 models. That is way too confusing for the consumer. Nobody would know which one they want.
I'm pretty sure they are going to do the iPhone 4 but with a cheaper body (it's too expensive build-wise right now to be a budget model) at $99.
Then the iPhone 5 will be the standard model with the high end construction and new features.
The end. Unless they are going to explore completely different form factors, like a significantly smaller phone or a physical keyboard phone, I don't think they would want to introduce another phone at the risk of confusing the consumer.
I still stand by what I wrote, not that I am some genius, but the signs point to it. Excellent point about confusing the customer, that has legs to me, which means there's probably going to be at least two. The new iCloud phone could be that third phone.....but I still believe there will be a larger form factor, there are simply too many large-screened phones for Apple NOT to compete in that size. I will not use a small screen (3.5") after having used a 4.3"...simply too small. Feels like a BlackBerry screen.
...? How exactly does my point that 3 models would be confusing lead you to believe there will be "at least two"? .... I think you're just dead set on this idea of 3 phones and you're not willing to think of it any other way.
As of now iCloud does not do music streaming, so there won't be an "iCloud phone" until that's a reality. Also, while data plans are so heavily limited, that also makes the "iCloud phone" very far off.
Regarding a larger screen, Apple won't be doing something that large any time soon. There are physical limitations. Don't forget that the iPhone is not a 16:9 screen, and that will not be changing any time soon because they have invested too much in retina display's 960x640 resolution. In order to do a 4" screen at the current aspect ratio, they would be increasing the size of the device, which is something they definitely don't want to do. If they extended the screen to be closer to the edges like it was in the first gen iPhone, it may be about 3.8". But they won't go larger than that at this time.
I highly doubt they're going to have two 3.5" models and one 3.8" model... Again, it's far too confusing to the customer.
Well, there's too much evidence that points to a minimum of two phones. They're phasing out the 3GS and replacing it with the iPhone 4S and there WILL be an iPhone 5....so by my math, that's two, right?
Plus THIS.
I think if apple really wants to deal a blow to android release the i5 with lte. I can't see this happening since apple can only upgrade a few things each version so they have more for the next model. Sadly if people get confused then they shouldn't have a smartphone anyway. I think this would be the perfect time to release the iphone hd and have a 4 inch screen with lte and watch how that breaks all the sales record that apple had.
I would buy an iPhone HD with a 4" screen. NOT one with a 3.5" screen.
That is what I am saying. I am sure there are many people out there who would like a little bit larger screen and apple could make the hd and price that at 199/299 and then use the 4s/4 as the cheaper priced model. That way they would only need to make one new model or even make 2 new models and just get rid of the 3gs. Then again steve jobs said nobody would ever want a phone with a screen over 3.5 inch screen so looks like it will stick with that size.
I'm still wondering about the effect of the (potential) larger screen on battery life. I'd like a marginally larger screen... but not at the expense of battery life.
There will not be 3 new iPhones.
NOT one with a 3.5" screen.
If Apple were to increase the capacity of the Battery to support the larger screen size it won't be an issue.