KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo, a trusted analyst has published a projected roadmap of future Apple products, spanning the next 12 months. The roadmap also includes the iPhone 5S and a curious inclusion is a new iPhone 5 version, that’s supposed to be cheap and also packing a multi colored plastic case.
Of course, this is by no means an official roadmap, since it’s all projections and speculations, that may turn up to be real. Kuo is the same analyst who predicted the entire Fall 2012 lineup for Apple and he was spot on. The map shows an iPhone 5S coming in Q3, followed in just weeks by the new design of the iPhone 5, with a colored plastic case. The predictions also include pretty much the same specs as the iPhone 5, plus a bigger battery, a 1600 mAh one instead of the 1420 one, plus a thicker chassis, of 8.2 mm instead of 7.6 mm.
As you have figured out, the plastic layer replaces aluminum and keeps costs down. There’s even a speculation about a price for this new iPhone 5: between $350 and $450 unlocked, that’s very good compared to the current $600-$700 price tag. The roadmap also includes an iPad 5, released between the iPhone 5S and the tweaked iPhone 5, plus a new Retina MacBook Pro.
