14 DAY TRIAL // “The bottom line is that we remain comfortable with an October iPhone 5 launch despite the reported 28nm chip shortage at Qualcomm,” reads an investor note signed by Financial Analyst Gene Munster, issued this Monday.
That’s not to say Qualcomm has been confirmed as the baseband chip vendor in the next iPhone. Analysts are assuming (it’s their job description, really) that Apple hasn’t had any change of heart recently.
In that respect, and given how tight Apple’s relationship with Qualcomm is, Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray investment bank, should be right. There’s more, though.
Munster said that even if the shortages do affect Apple - which is not very likely, since they’re probably at the top of Qualcomm’s long list of clients - iPhone sales would simply be shifted into the March 2013 quarter and beyond, according to AppleInsider.
"We believe it would be unlikely that a consumer would choose to buy another phone if they are unable to get an iPhone 5 due to short term supply constraints given past launches with limited supply," Munster wrote.
Munster then proposed an even better theory: “favored inventory status,” which has to do with Apple’s importance as a client (what we mentioned in the above paragraph).
Munster also took some pages from the Apple history book to highlight the company’s ability to deal with “potentially limited components at launch.”
Like many other analysts quoted on the matter, Munster expects the iPhone 5 to look something like the iPad (particularly on the back), and that it would most likely boast a larger screen.
“Beyond the redesigned body and screen, we believe the new phone will include 4G LTE, upgraded processor and memory, and a higher megapixel camera,” he said.
Editor’s note AppleInsider appropriately points out that Munster’s claims are on par with those of his fellow Wall Street analysts. This has to be the first time in the history of this planet that all analysts agree on the rumored technical specifications of an upcoming Apple product.