Following a 9to5Mac report that said Apple might be planning to unveil new hardware at WWDC, deeming a MacBook Air with Retina display as the most likely candidate to be unveiled during the opening keynote, two insiders with accurate track records reporting on unreleased Apple products have contradicting opinions on what’s coming next week.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed in a new research note to clients that cheaper iMac and iPhone 5s models will be announced next week.
Kuo said that Apple has improved iMac production costs by “improving panel lamination and casing yields while incorporating parts-bin components being used in the MacBook lineup,” AppleInsider says.
Despite a price drop, the analyst cut iMac sales forecast for 2014 from 4.8 million to between 4 million and 4.5 million.
Furthermore, a new OS X beta version released to developers revealed that, no matter how much they’ll cost or when they’ll hit stores, new iMacs are coming, MacRumors reports.
As for the cheaper iPhone 5s, Kuo believed an 8GB version of the handset will be unveiled, following the earlier launch of the 8GB iPhone 5c model.
The analyst does not expect other hardware for Apple’s iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 keynote event.
Sadly, we shouldn’t expect either new device next week.
Meanwhile, citing AppleInsider’s report on Kuo’s WWDC hardware predictions Jim Dalrymple shot down such expectations with a simple “Nope” – that is, neither a cheaper iMac nor an 8GB iPhone 5s will be announced during the event.
Dalrymple has similarly commented on various Apple rumors in the past and he has a perfect track record.
