Apple yesterday held an earnings call, but a closer look at some of the details provided gives a very good indication as to when exactly the iPhone 5S will be launched.
As we reported, Apple CEO Tim Cook used this earnings call to promise a range of exciting new products in the autumn. Exciting, yes, but autumn is a pretty vague time span.
Now those clever analysts have been earning their colossal wages by digging into the details provided and coming up with a bold (but logical) prediction - the iPhone 5S will be released in September.
It goes a little something like this: Apple predicted that its fourth quarter earnings would be around $34 billion to $37 billion. These numbers would only be achievable, says BTIG analyst Walt Piecyk, if Apple launched new hardware in September (the quarter ends on September 28).
So what makes this analyst so sure that it'll be the iPhone 5S and not a new iPad? It's due to another snippet of information that Apple let on - it expects healthy margins of 36 to 37 percent for the same quarter.
Apple's phones provide higher margins than its tablets, hence the likelihood of an iPhone 5S launch rather than, say, an iPad 5 or iPad mini 2 in September.
Piecyk isn't a lone voice on this prediction either. Morgan Stanley's Katy Hubert also reckons there'll be some major hardware announcements from Apple in September following this earnings call.
Hubert pointed to the fact that "Apple provided less transparency into gross margin influences for the September quarter, seemingly to avoid pre-announcing new products." Also highlighted was that $3 billion revenue guidance range, which is apparently due to "many moving parts in the September quarter."
Something big and Apple-shaped is clearly set to happen in September.
Next, read our iPhone 5 tips and tricks.
Via: AllThingsD
