Top Apple analyst leaves his firm; Ming-Chi Kuo will no longer follow Apple at his new job

Ask any PhoneArena reader which Apple analyst has provided us with the most accurate forecasts over the years, and the answer would surely be Ming-Chi Kuo. The latter, who toiled for Korea's KGI Securities, abruptly quit the firm on Friday according to a report out of China that was published today. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman followed that up with a tweet which said that Kuo would now be covering "innovative non-Apple companies" for another firm.

Last year, Kuo worked his magic back in February, seven months before Apple unveiled its 2017 lineup. Back then, the Apple iPhone X was thought to be called the iPhone 8, and Kuo said that it would have a revolutionary front-facing camera. Of course, he was talking about the TrueDepth Camera, and even mentioned the 3D sensing that it was capable of. In the same note to clients, the analyst talked about a facial recognition system and stated that the handset would not come with Touch ID. He also nailed the screen sizes and storage capacities for all three phones unveiled by Apple last year. Those models are the Apple iPhone 8, Apple iPhone 8 Plus and the Apple iPhone X.

For this year, Kuo sees a trio of new models. He expects that Apple will introduce the Apple iPhone Xs, a sequel to the current tenth anniversary model sporting a 5.8-inch OLED display. He also sees the company unveiling the Apple iPhone Xs Plus with a giant 6.5-inch OLED display, and the Apple iPhone 9 with a 6.1-inch LCD screen. That model will feature just one camera on back and won't come with 3D Touch. Instead, Apple is reportedly adding an extra thin film sensor layer. All three phones will have the TrueDepth Camera and Face ID.

Ironically, before entering the securities industry, Kuo was an analyst for Digitimes, which has a questionable reputation. From there, he moved on to Concord Securities before joining  KGI Securities in 2012. It was there where he honed his reputation. He correctly called the removal of the earphone jack on the Apple iPhone 7 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus among his many correct predictions. One forecast that is still up in the air is one he made last August when he said that the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will be the manufacturer's first phone with an under-display fingerprint scanner.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that Kuo will be covering non-Apple companies at his new job

source: ChinaTimes (translated), @markgurman