Last night Apple presented financial results for Q2 2011 and probably many were impressed to see that over 18 million iPhone terminals were sold in the last 3 months, almost 2 million more than in Q1 2011 when the winter holidays were also taken into account. It is very clear that the iPhone 4 is still in "high demand" and Apple has little reason to launch a new terminal in the summer considering that half of its profit was generated from the sale of iPhone 4 terminals.
The CDMA version of the iPhone 4 was released only 2 months ago and in April the white version of the iPhone 4 is scheduled to be released, so theoretically a release of the iPhone 5 would be quite "strange" for Apple's strategy. iPhone 4 sells very well in all markets where it is available and the launch of the white version will increase the company's income a little, but not by much. Announcing the release of a new iPhone now would lead to a dramatic drop in sales until June when Apple is in the fall, so logically everything must point to a release in the fall. From the above, the idea emerges that Apple should launch iPhone 5 in the fall, but that's not all because another very strong reason is related to iOS 5. The new version of iOS will only be presented at the WWDC in the summer and suppose it would contain a lot of changes. If it is true, then the developers will have at least one month at their disposal to test the new version of iOS and to prepare their applications. iPhone 5 without iOS 5 is unthinkable and considering the current situation, I don't see how Apple could launch iPhone 5 before July 2011 or in the fall.
Ok, now some reasons in favor of the summer release. Tens of millions of people are waiting for the release of a new iPhone model in June, Apple knows this and cannot miss the moment when everyone's attention is directed at them. Millions of AT&T contracts expire in the summer and iPhone 4 owners will not buy another iPhone 4 and those who do not have an iPhone 4 will not buy one now considering that the new model will be released in the fall. If the iPhone 5 does not appear in the summer, then Apple and AT&T risk losing a lot of customers in favor of Android, and for many it will be important to have something new in their hand even if it is not the iPhone 5. Apple always wanted to have the possibility to surprises customers and a launch of iPhone 5 at the end of WWDC would be a surprise for many considering the rumors that are now circulating on the Internet.
Last night Tim Cook refused to talk about the iPhone 5 and its release this summer, so for now we can only speculate and speculate and not the last time to "hope" for a release in the summer.
