New 4-inch iPhone Not Likely This Year

[Maura]

Following on from yesterday’s rumour that Apple was planning to launch a new 4-inch iPhone along with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models, respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has poured cold water on the idea, saying that Apple is not likely to launch a 4-inch iPhone this year.

However, Kuo has not ruled out a new 4-inch iPhone completely, instead saying that he thinks Apple will wait until 2016 to release it.

Kuo says that this new 4-inch iPhone will extend momentum for those Apple customers who want a smaller phone. Such an upgrade to the existing iPhone 5s would also then “complete the Apple Pay ecosystem,” according to Kuo, adding NFC tap-to-pay functionality.

AppleInsider notes that Apple Pay is still exclusive to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, but owners of older iPhones will be able to use tap-to-pay from this Friday with the debut of the Apple Watch, although they’ll have to also own an Apple Watch to take advantage of it. The current iPhone 5s does not have an NFC chip, so therefore will never be able to use Apple Pay on its own.

Source: Apple unlikely to launch new 4-inch iPhone model this year insider says