The small but powerful iPhone SE is aimed at fans loyal to the first smartphones launched, hence the reduced-size display. Unveiled back in March, the iPhone SE did pretty good on the market, otherwise we can't see a reason for Apple to want to prolong the phone's lifecycle.
Obviously, Apple's is not going to confirm any its iPhone plans for next year, but one well-connected analyst might have it right this time.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is now going to release a new iPhone SE model next year, so we're only going to see the next-generation iPhone. The reason behind Apple's decision may have something to do with the fact that the launch of a smaller, more affordable iPhone SE could reduce sales of the iPhone 8 considerably.
However, Kuo mentions that Apple is unlikely to launch a new iPhone SE model in the second fiscal quarter of 2017, which ends in March. Still, that doesn't mean that Apple won't launch in later next year.
Apparently, Apple's decision to cut out the iPhone SE next year is a direct result of the lower gross margin guidance than the company expected for the first fiscal quarter of 2017.
During the latest conference call, Apple announced that it forecasts gross margins between 38 percent and 38.5 percent until the end of 2016, slightly lower than the company's expectations. The Cupertino-based was expecting gross margins of more than 39 percent, but apparently failed to deliver.
Kuo believes that Apple will be able to ship between 40 million and 50 million iPhone units for the current quarter, about 1.2 million units compared to last year.
For the second quarter of 2017, Kuo forecasts total iPhone shipments volume to amount at about 35-40 million units, just 400k units shy from the amount shipped last year.
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