Ming-Chi Kuo

Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new investor note today in which he says that Apple is unlikely to release a new version of the iPhone SE until the second half of 2021 at the earliest. This comes as the iPhone SE introduced in April continues to sell well and as Apple focuses on the iPhone 12 lineup.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that iPhone 12 preorders are more than twice the level seen for the iPhone 11 last year. He says that preorders reached somewhere in the 1.7M to 2M range within the first 24 hours, contrasting this with a 500k to 800k range for the iPhone 11.

However, while it has been widely predicted that Apple’s first 5G phones would generate another ‘super-cycle,’ similar to that seen when the company launched the first larger-screened devices which debuted in the iPhone 6, there isn’t yet the evidence to support this scale of demand …

In addition to what to expect from Apple this year, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also outlined what could be on the table for Apple in 2021. The analyst speculates that a “significant form factor design change” could come to the Apple Watch as early as the second half of next year.

Ahead of tomorrow’s Apple event, reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new investor note highlighting his expectations for the remainder of 2020. Kuo corroborates expectations that the new iPad Air will feature Touch ID in the side button, as well as blood oxygen support on the Apple Watch Series 6.

The Apple analyst also predicts that the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 will include a “slightly narrower notch area.”

This is the year of 5G iPhones, but one of the biggest unknowns around the iPhone 12 is which flavors of 5G we’ll get. All models in all countries are likely to support sub-6GHz 5G. This is effectively the next step up from 4G/LTE, with similar range but offering only a relatively modest bump in speed.

But when people talk about super-fast 5G, they are talking about a very different beast: mmWave 5G. This has more in common with WiFi than traditional mobile data. And it seems fewer iPhones than expected will have this high-speed capability …

In the latest TF Securities report from Ming-Chi Kuo, the Apple analyst estimates the cost of adding 5G to this year’s iPhone. Kuo believes it will cost Apple about $75 per unit for sub-6GHz 5G support, and up to $125 for millimeter wave 5G.

Kuo does not expect Apple to pass on all of the cost increases to the consumer sale price of the iPhone 12. That means Apple is looking to offset 5G component costs by looking for cost savings elsewhere in the phone. Kuo names the battery printed circuit board as one area where Apple is downgrading its specifications.

The Trump executive order banning US companies from having a business relationship with WeChat has many ramifications, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is concerned that the hit to iPhone sales will be significant.

If the order is implemented in full, it would see WeChat being removed from the App Store worldwide. WeChat is a critically important app for the Chinese market and if it’s no longer available on iOS, iPhone sales could decline by as much as 30%.

Apple is set to be significantly slimming its packaging for its upcoming iPhone line. The analyst previously said that Apple will no longer include wired earbuds with the iPhone 12, and today reports that he also expects the power adapter to now be sold separately too.

Kuo says that Apple wants to keep selling the iPhone 12 at a similar price to the iPhone 11 and removing in-box accessories will offset the cost of the 5G networking components. This will presumably reduce the size of the iPhone packaging considerably, helping lower Apple’s freight costs and be better for the environment.

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Following a report from Bloomberg that said Apple would announce the transition to ARM Macs at WWDC tomorrow, respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is reporting his latest predictions for the ARM Mac lineup. Kuo believes that Apple will announce the first ARM processor at WWDC and that the first Mac models to feature ARM CPUs will be a next-generation 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and a new redesigned iMac.

Kuo confirms that an all-new design iMac is launching imminently, and it will apparently be Apple’s last new Mac featuring an Intel CPU. Starting in Q4 2020 / Q1 2021, Apple will begin its ARM transition with the release of the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro running on Apple silicon, according to Kuo. The updated iMac — featuring a 24-inch display with thinner bezels — is scheduled to switch to ARM at a similar time.

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Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shared a new investor note today focused on new iPad hardware as well as Apple Glasses. According to Kuo, Apple will release Apple Glasses “in 2022 at the earliest.”

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Update: Kuo has issued an update to his report, saying that AirPods 3 will go into mass production during the first half of 2021, not the first half of 2020. We’ve updated our piece below as well.

Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has published a new investor note today focused on Apple’s growing AirPods business. According to the analyst, Apple’s over-ear headphones will enter mass production sometime this summer. There are also new AirPods and AirPods Pro on the way.

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Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities has shared a new investor note today detailing the ongoing development of Apple’s 2020 iPhone 12 models. Kuo also says that iPhone SE pre-orders have been “better than market expectation” so far.

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Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new investor note today focused on what to expect from Apple for the rest of this year. According to the analyst, we can expect six new Apple products with mini-LED, including a new 14.1-inch MacBook Pro.

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Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new analyst note today and the most interesting part of his forecast is that Apple will release its first Mac with an ARM processor in the first half of 2021.

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As shared in a research note, TF Securities Ming-Chi Kuo expects Apple system-in-package partners to ramp up production of the ultra-wide band ‘AirTags’ in the second or third quarter of this year.

Kuo says that the supply chain will be producing tens of millions of units by the end of the year. Although not said explicitly, it suggests that Apple’s Tile-like trackers (referenced in code as ‘AirTags’) will be released this year.

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Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new note today that includes a prediction for exactly how much coronavirus will impact iPhone shipments for the current quarter, as well as how the entire smartphone market might be affected for the first half of the year.

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A report from Ming-Chi Kuo today centered on the impact to Apple’s supply chain of the coronavirus. Nested in the report, Kuo mentions several new products from Apple expected to arrive in the first half of 2020.

The lineup includes the iPhone SE 2, a new iPad Pro and MacBooks with scissor keys, and most interestingly a “smaller wireless charging mat, UWB tag, and a high-end Bluetooth headphone”.

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Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out today with a new investor note focused on Apple’s iPhone lineup for 2020 and 2021. Kuo says there will be four new OLED iPhone models in 2020, followed by a new iPhone without a Lightning port in 2021.

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Late on Sunday, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed some additional details about the iPhone SE 2, which Kuo previously said will launch early in 2020.

As said previously, the specification of the device is very similar to the iPhone 8, just as the original iPhone SE was an adapted version of the iPhone 5s body. Kuo says the iPhone SE 2 will come in 64 GB and 128 GB storage configurations with three color options: silver, space gray, and red. He also predicts that the starting price for the new cheaper iPhone will be $399.

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According to a Chinese language Ming-Chi Kuo report, Apple is readying the release of the iPhone SE 2 and new iPad Pro models for the first quarter of next year. This would apparently be followed up with the Apple AR headset launch in the second quarter.

Kuo says that Apple will collaborate with ‘third-party brands’ to release its first round of iPhone accessory augmented-reality headsets.

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