Rumors saying that Apple plans to launch iPhone mini next year 2014. The iPhone mini is expecting at a price ranging from $200 to $250.
"We expect Samsung to slightly extend its lead over Apple this year because of its larger multitier product portfolio," Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, said in an e-mail interview with Reuters.
Global smartphone shipments will jump 27 percent to 875 million this year, slowing from last year's torrid 41 percent pace as growth is easing in many key markets such as North America, China, the developed economies of Asia, and Western Europe, Mawston said.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics is forecast to sell 290 million smartphones this year, up from a projected 215 million in 2012, the research firm said. Apple's smartphone sales are projected to reach 180 million this year, up 33 percent from last year, slightly trailing Samsung's 35 percent increase.
This will give Samsung a 33 percent share of the 2013 smartphone market, up from last year's estimated 31 percent, while Apple will hold 21 percent, versus last year's 20 percent.
The Korean handset maker has the edge over Apple in large part because it "plays in more segments," Mawston told Reuters, allowing it to "capture more volume than Apple."
To fight back, Apple may try to win over a larger base of consumers by launching a smaller, cheaper variant of the iPhone, dubbed the "iPhone Mini" by the analyst.
With the iPhone 5 grabbing huge demand and sales, a low-end model may not be on Apple's agenda this year.
There’s absolutely no evidence that Apple is working on an iPhone mini — but for that matter there’s wasn’t much to indicate that the company was working on the iPad mini either — but the rumors suggest a smaller, cheaper handset that will appeal to those who are interested in the iPhone but find the current offering too expensive.
While there’s no doubt that this would have huge appeal in the U.S., a cheap iPhone would have massive appeal in countries such as China and India. And if Apple can gain traction in these countries, it could add billions to its profits, and millions of new users every quarter.
