Wall Street analysts predict when the Apple iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus and iPhone 8 will launch

There have been a number of rumors suggesting that the tenth anniversary iPhone model, dubbed the Apple iPhone 8, will arrive late. One report had the device launching late in the calendar fourth quarter as Apple tries to decide whether it can place Touch ID under the front screen, or put a button on the back of the handset. As it turns out, a facial recognition system using 3D-scanning seems the most likely answer to keeping the model free from buttons on the front of the device.

After reporting its fiscal third quarter earnings report yesterday, Apple released some estimates about its fiscal fourth quarter; according to some brokerage house analysts, these numbers indicate that the iPhone 8 will be released next month. RBC analyst Amit Daryanani was very happy to see Apple provide positive guidance for the next quarter. In his mind, the numbers "effectively imply no iPhone launch delay." Among those figures is an expected 12% sequential growth in iPhone sales. The five-year average sequential growth has been 7%, which indicates that something out of the ordinary (iPhone 8?) is happening in the fiscal fourth quarter.

Guggenheim analyst Rob Cihra says that the September forecast made by Apple was much stronger than expected. At the very least, he sees Apple launching the Apple iPhone 7s and Apple iPhone 7s Plus next month. He also sees the possibility of some iPhone 8 sales making the finish line in time to qualify for fiscal Q4 earnings. JP Morgan's Rod Hall says that Apple's guidance for next quarter indicates that the iPhone 7s series will ship as normal next month. The Apple iPhone 8, he predicts, will launch in time to play an important role for the December quarter. Hall also made a very interesting quote about iOS 11 turning the iPad into a viable laptop replacement.


UBS Analyst Steven Milunovich expects an October launch of the iPhone 8 while Rosenblatt analyst Jun Zhang looks for a September entrance into the world for the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus. The iPhone 8, he believes, will start production toward the end of September.

And if you think that these guys know exactly what is going on, guess again. Very few Wall Street analysts are worth the big bucks they get paid.

source: AppleInsider