Tuesday Apple Rumors: iPhone Lite to Launch Before iPhone 5S

by Christopher Freeburn | July 23, 2013 12:56 pm

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Stumble: Manufacturing problems with Apple‘s (AAPL[3]) upcoming iPhone 5S could mean its cheaper iPhone will launch first[4], AppleInsider notes. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the iPhone Lite, which is meant to compete in emerging markets like China and India where most consumers cannot afford high-end smartphones, will likely debut in early September. Kuo estimates that Apple will ship 26 million iPhone Lites this year, far below the 30 million to 40 million units forecast by other analysts. The iPhone 5S, by contrast, has been hit with production problems affecting “numerous components.” Apple’s manufacturing partners are also encountering difficulty assembling the device. The delays will push the launch of the iPhone 5S to late September, Kuo estimates. Along with the iPhone Lite, Apple is will also launch a trimmer, lighter iPad 5 in early September. Kuo warns that the iPhone 5S will see supply constraints during its launch that will dent sales just as the iPhone 5 did last year.

Claim: A London-based computer security research says he is responsible for the hacking that shut down Apple’s website for developers[5], PC World notes. Ibrahim Balic took to Twitter and Google‘s (GOOG[6]) YouTube to make clear that he did not intent to compromise secure data when he breached the website’s defenses last week. He insists that he reported the incident to Apple, which shut down the website in response. Apple says no encrypted data was accessed, but Balic says he was able to obtain user email addresses, names and IDs. Balic may have gained access to up to 100,000 user accounts. “I wanted to be heard. I’m not hacking and I didn’t do it for bad purposes,” Balic said in an email to PC World.

Downloads: The iTunes store has hit yet another milestone[7], Mac Rumors notes. One billion Podcast subscriptions have now been downloaded through iTunes. Podcasts, which permit people, organizations or corporations to send out audio broadcasts of varying length, first appeared on iTunes in 2005. Podcasts can also be accessed through an app for iOS devices. According to Apple, there are more than 250,000 unique Podcasts in 100 languages. Earlier this year, Apple reported that users had downloaded more than 25 billion songs via iTunes.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[8] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/07/tuesday-apple-rumors-iphone-lite-to-launch-before-iphone-5s/

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