While Apple’s iPad 3 and its brand new HDTV will be big products for the Cupertino, California-based company in 2012, its “most important catalyst” will be a completely redesigned iPhone. Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday that the launch of Apple’s next-generation “iPhone 5” is more important than Apple’s upcoming “iPad 3” and even its rumored “iTV,” which is reportedly set to launch this summer. Wu says that while Apple’s iPad and its Siri-enabled television set are nothing to scoff at, the iPhone will still account for the biggest chunk of Apple’s revenue and profit in 2012. Read on for more.
“[The iPhone] is arguably the single most important of AAPL’s businesses representing 44% of revenue in FY11 and what we estimate to be at least 60% of profits,” Wu wrote on Wednesday. “It also has the largest unit opportunity with a yearly TAM (total addressable market) of 1.5 billion mobile phones.”
Citing anonymous sources from within Apple’s supply chain, the analyst claims that Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5 will feature a “radical” redesign including a thinner case with a sleeker form factor, a slightly larger display and compatibility with faster 4G LTE networks. Wu’s account mirrors his earlier report from August, and it aligns closely with a recent report from Ticonderoga’s Brian White, who also noted that Apple’s next iPhone will include NFC capabilities.
BGR exclusively reported last month that Apple will launch a redesigned iPhone this fall with an aluminum case.
