The rumor that the launch date of the iPhone 5S has been pushed back is gaining its foothold with time. According to the research conducted by the Citigroup Capital Markets, the next iPhone, iPhone 5S release will have an extended delay to hit the market. The research also claimed that Retina MacBook Air is on its way to roll out.
Glen Yeung from Citigroup said in a note on Sunday, according to the previous reports, even after having a speedy design phase, the iPhone 5S was modestly delayed for a month, and now after inputs from the Taiwan based research team of the organisation, they believe that the delay will add some more months to its credit. According to his note, it might take August or September for the new model of the iPhone to reach the shelves. Previously the iPhone was set to come out in the month of June that was extended to the month of July, and now a further delay of 1-2 months are on the cards. In the report, issues regarding the volume of the production have been marked as the reason for this delay.
Last week’s note from Peter Misek, the analyst from Jefferies, also had a similar tone. He also said that the iPhone 5S and the rumored low cost version of the iPhone is expected to be delayed by a few more months.
Yeung also added that, in the 4th quarter of 2013, they expect several new products from Apple to roll out, starting with the iPhone 5S, iPad Mini, iPad 5 and MacBook Air Retina, but an iPhone 6 is not particularly expected this very year, and about the low-end version of iPhone they still remain unclear. He also told that the demand for the iPad Mini might have been softening with time, and iPad Mini 2 is expected to come out in both the versions, with and without retina display.
In this context, Yeung was not confirmed about how the shares of Apple Inc. will perform in the next quarter, and unlike most of the firms in the field, Citi is not recommending Apple to their customers.