The iPhone 4s And The iPhone 5 May In Fact Be Two Different Phones With September Release Date [Deutsche Bank Analysts Suggest That The iPhone 4s And The iPhone 5 May Be Different Phones With Different Features]

Posted on TFTS by Steve Anderson on Monday, 27. June 2011 under: Mobile/Cell Phones

We’ve been following the release news around the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5 doggedly for the last several months now, and Apple’s naming conventions haven’t made things any easier. We’ve been hearing about the iPhone 4s, which was originally shaping up to be a prototype of the iPhone 5, quite a bit, but thanks to a new report this morning, we’ve discovered yet another new possibility. The iPhone 4s may not actually be another name for the iPhone 5 after all, but now may be a completely separate model with different features.

While the newest reports are that they’re looking at a September release date (which is just fine by us as it lines up nicely with a panoply of reports to that effect from a variety of sources), the newest word from Deutsche Bank analysts says that the iPhone 4s may not be a prototype iPhone 5 after all, but rather a separate, and smaller, model.

The iPhone 4s, goes the report, will be a smaller, simpler, and off-contract version of the iPhone, likely for the burgeoning pay as you go market. It will represent an upgrade over the iPhone 4, of course, but the upgrade will be somewhat modest. However, the iPhone 5 will be the brass ring, the fully-realized upgrade with all the bells and whistles attached.

The report suggests that since Nokia and Blackberry devices are struggling in the marketplace, it’s a great time for Apple to invade Android’s typically dominated turf of lower-cost cell phones.

And the report has a point, no mistake there. There are a lot of people out there who seldom use cell phones in the first place, many more who favor pay as you go plans without contracts. Why should Apple miss out on that market, and why should Android have that entire pie mostly to itself? Though whether or not this is how it will actually turn out is still up in the air until the launch, which increasingly seems like it’ll be this year after all, it’s a reasonable plan of attack for Apple.

What do you guys think here? Is it time for Apple to bring in a lower-cost alternative to its impressively stacked (and priced) hardware? Or is Apple doing just fine without the contract market? Hit the comments section below and tell us what you think!