The iPhone 7 will come out in September 2015 just months after the release of the iPhone 6s, according to a new report.
The iPhone 7 release date has been pegged by multiple outlets as in or around September of next year, but the information about the 6s is new.
A source in the supply chain told Stabley Times, a relatively unknown blog whose reporting should be taken with caution, that Apple wants to launch the iPhone 6S in spring 2015 to accompany the launch of the iWatch.
The company would then launch the iPhone 7 in September.
“Another variant has the iPhone 6S arriving in the spring and sticking around for a full year, with the iPhone 7 being released in the spring of 2016. There is some precedent, as Apple only kept the iPad 3 on the market for six months before launching the iPad 4,” the blog claimed.
“If Apple truly is about to launch the iPhone 6S in six months and the iPhone 7 another half year after that, there will be blowback from those who see the move as overkill – but Cupertino is well aware that those types tend to criticize it for everything it does or doesn’t do anyway. While our source stresses that it’s still very early in the decision making process and that Apple could easily change its mind, the mere notion that such a plan is being kicked around points to Tim Cook and company being increasingly willing to break from its patterns.”
The new report comes after Taiwan’s Industrial and Commercial Times said that Apple would discontinue the iPhone 5C as early as summer 2015.
Sales of that model were poor and the model being discontinued would mean the same number of models would be available with the release of a new model, either the iPhone 6S or the iPhone7.
Some people believe Apple will release a 6S model while others think the company will skip it entirely and go straight to the iPhone 7.
Apple launched two new models--the 5C and the higher-end iPhone 5S--for the iPhone 5.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo noted recently that Apple plans to stop production of the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 4S in 2015 after promotional plans wrap up.
