Packaging for a rumored budget iPhone 5C shows up online

As Apple's fall product reveal approaches, alleged images of the new iPhone parts are appearing with greater frequency. The latest is plastic packaging for an iPhone 5C, which appeared on the Chinese WeiPhone discussion forum. The 5C could be the rumored lower-cost, plastic-encased iPhone that could show up along with an updated iPhone 5, expected to be call the 5S.

It's uncertain whether the image is the real thing. It doesn't fit into Apple's current visual treatment for an iPhone with two characters, such as the 4S, but given the makeover Apple is giving iOS, it's not beyond reason that the designers would tinker with iPhone logos. The packaging could be similar to the plastic case that of the iPod touch than the iPhone 5. What the "C" stands for is unclear.

Apple's current naming and graphical treatment for the iPhone models.

The iPhone 5, which is almost a year old, was the most popular iPhone sold in Apple's quarter ending June 30, but the iPhone 4 (first available June 24, 2010) and 4S (first available October 14, 2011) models sold well in emerging markets, indicating demand for a more updated budget iPhone to go along with the new, rumored iPhone 5S in the fall lineup.

Sales of the iPhone were up 400 percent in India, up 60 percent in Turkey, up 140 percent in the Philippines. China, however, was weaker in the quarter, with sell-through down 4 percent from the year-ago quarter, but Apple has earned $27 billion in revenue on a trailing basis in last 12 months. "I continue to believe that in the arc of time China is a huge opportunity for Apple, and I don't get discouraged over a 90-day kind of cycle that can have economic factors and other things in it," Apple CEO Tim Cook said.

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Apple delaying iPhone 5S due to switch in screen size?

Put this in the radical rumor file. Apple has decided to delay the iPhone 5S in order to switch to a larger screen size, say Asia-sourced reports.

Apple will delay the release of the iPhone 5S in order to give it time to make a switch to a larger screen size, according to a report from BrightWire News, citing sources at suppliers. Commercial Times, via Bloomberg, is also reporting the rumor.

Apple has decided to up the screen size from 4 inches to 4.3 inches, the report claimed.

"[Apple] halted processor production for [the] iPhone 5S in May," according to BrightWire news. That initial iPhone 5S design had a 4-inch screen.

The 5S was expected to hit the market in September or October but has been pushed back to the end of the year, both reports said.

Budget iPhones will be released by October, as expected. That design was not changed.

Large-screen phones with displays bigger than 4 inches are catching on fast. It's remotely possible that Apple believes it needs to respond to market demands more quickly.

Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.

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Bigger iPhone 6 coming; iPad Mini Retina delayed, Citi says

A big-screen iPhone 6 should show up next year while the highly anticipated iPad Mini Retina may be delayed until the fourth quarter, according to Citi Research.

In a research note to investors Friday, Citi began by saying that production of the upcomingiPhone 5S "has been delayed by two to four weeks."

The note continued. "And while this does not preclude a September iPhone 5S launch date, we suspect volumes in September may consequently be challenged," Citi's Glen Yeung wrote, citing "our field work in the hardware supply chain."

At the end of the iPhone 5S analysis, Yeung punctuated it with this: "We...expect a 4.8 [inch] screen iPhone 6 to be launched in 1Q14" (the first quarter of 2014).

The iPhone 5 has a 4-inch screen while the Galaxy S4 from Samsung, Apple's biggest rival, sports a 5-inch screen. So, a 4.8-inch iPhone 6 would, theoretically at least, compete with large-screen phones like the S4.

Citi had a lot more to say about future versions of the iPad Mini. Namely, that it expects a $230-$250 iPad Mini followed by the delayed Retina model that's expected to have a pixel density of 2,048x1,536.

And Citi had this to say about the iPad 5, the next version of Apple's 9.7-inch tablet

With respect to the iPad Mini, NPD DisplaySearch said in May that production of the Retina displays for the device should begin by July with production of the tablet itself in the third quarter.

But a report this week claimed that production of the second-generation iPad Mini may be pushed back to November.

Apple's 24th annual developers gathering, the Worldwide Developers Conference, next week.

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