According to CNBC, analysts at J.P. Morgan believe Apple could be switching up its iPhone release schedule, releasing new models twice a year instead of once.
Since 2011, Apple has traditionally released iPhones either in September or October. As the market has become increasingly more competitive, however, an entire year between major releases has allowed competitors to leapfrog the iPhone’s features.
In a note to investors, J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee cites supply chain checks as the basis for their prediction.
“Based on our supply chain checks, we are expecting a strategic change in the launch cadence with the release of two new iPhone models in 1H21 followed by another two in 2H21, which will serve to smooth seasonality around the launch.”
In the short-term, the analysts also believe there will be a total of four iPhones released in 2020, instead of the normal three. Even more significant, they believe that all four of the devices next year will have both OLED screens and 5G support, according to Chatterjee’s note.
“The 2H20 lineup will include all OLED phones, with screen sizes of 5.4″ (one model), 6.1″ (two), and 6.7″ (one), broadening the screen size range from 5.8″ to 6.5″ in 2019. We expect the two higher end models (one 6.1″, one 6.7″) to include mmWave support, triple camera and World facing 3D sensing, while the lower-end models (one 6.1″, one 5.4″) will include support for only sub-6 GHz and dual camera (no World-facing 3D sensing).”
J.P. Morgan has raised its 12-month price target for Apple to $296 from $290.