A bigger iPhone 6 model would help Apple gain additional profits and market share in the mobile business, ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall revealed in a note to investors obtained by AppleInsider. According to the analyst, Apple’s first phablet will drive “significant upgrades among iPhone users,” and also convert many Android users to iOS, once screen size parity between the two competing platforms is reached. Thus, a screen size of around 5 inches will be responsible for the “motherlode of all [iPhone] upgrade cycles” so far.
Marshall says that Apple’s current iPhone installed based is at somewhere around 260 million, with more than half of sales going to upgraders. In a regular quarter, around 9% of the total number of iPhone users upgrade to a newer model, the analyst says, with the percentage going up to 14% for peak quarters.
The analyst expects iPhone upgrades among iPhone users to reach peak numbers in the second half of the year as well, once the new iPhone 6 models are released, with over 14% of iPhone users willing to upgrade seen moving to a bigger model in the last two quarters of the year. Marshall believes that Apple will release two iPhone models including one with a 4.7-inch screen and an even bigger model with a 5.5-inch display.
This “pent-up demand” for a larger iPhone would also increase earnings per share by up to $3.00.
Many reports from various sources also suggest Apple will launch at least two iPhone 6 models this year, with screen sizes bigger than the current 4-inch display used in the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. The company is also rumored to release the iPhone 6 in summer rather than in fall – starting with the iPhone 4s, all new iPhone announcements and launches occurred in September/October.
