Apple could reveal smaller iPhone 5se in March

Despite the introduction of new models, analysts say global demand for new smartphones isn’t growing as fast as it has in recent years.

The slowdown comes as Wall Street analysts worry the company does not have another blockbuster product to replace the iPhone. In the same quarter a year ago Apple reported revenue of $58 billion.

2014: $74.6 billion 2015: $75.9 billion, up 2%. Earnings amounted to $3.28 a share, which beat the $3.23 average forecast among analysts surveyed by FactSet. The consensus estimate was for $76.54 billion, though Apple’s delivered sales within the guidance range it provided in October.

News isn’t as good for the upcoming quarter.

While most iPhone announcements tend to come in the fall, Apple this year will be shaking things up a bit.

That would be Apple’s first year-over-year sales decline since the January-March quarter of 2003 – long before the company began selling iPhones and iPads. That “other” group jumped 43 per cent in sales in the last quarter to $4.35 billion, which is also a 62 per cent increase since the same time past year. That sent sales skyrocketing, especially in Asia, where consumers had previously flocked to buy big-screen phones from rival Samsung.

Following up on a previous report, Gurman, a well-respected Apple blogger, notes that two versions of the 5se are floating around Apple’s campus: One has an older A8 processor (found in the iPhone 6) while another has a newer A9 processor (found in the 6S).

Apple’s 4-inch smartphone revamp in the form of the iPhone 5se is getting more attention than ever before. That could fuel another surge in sales. We might have just gotten the first hard evidence that Apple is really planning a new, mini iPhone.

Rumors flooding the internet talked about a certain iPhone that was to come out, which had a certain trait supposed to appeal to a different user category than Apple’s usual target.

Growth was exceptionally hard to come by in the last quarter of 2015, particularly as iPhone sales just barely beat out those of a year earlier. However, it’s still not clear whether or not Apple intends to hold a live event to announce the new products or if it will simply release them on its website.

But the the new iPhone will also, unfortunately, be similar to the iPhone 6 in a particularly disappointing way: According to Gurman, the entry-level model will be sold with a measly 16 gigabytes of storage.