Apple's third-party analyst says a smaller iPhone won't help the company

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, believes the rumor of the new low-end iPhone with a smaller screen, wouldn't really mean much to Apple, despite the fact that there seems to be a strong demand from existing smartphone users for screens smaller than 5 inches.

In a note published Friday, Munster wrote data indicating that Apple could be working on a new 4-inch device for release next year, confirming some of the earlier reports about the smaller iPhone model, which could be called iPhone 6c.

The same note also shared an internal poll by Piper Jaffray revealing that more than 20% of smartphone users say they prefer a 4-inch screen sizes, indicating that it is the optimal size for smartphones. The iPhone 5s had a 4-inch screen, while the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are endowed with a 4,7-inch and 5,5-inch screen, respectively.

But Munster gave three reasons why he thinks that a smaller iPhone wouldn't really help Apple in a meaningful way:

• Consumers don't really want the smallest devices: Munster writes that the 20% of smartphone users who said they prefer 4-inch screens, it is simply because they are still using older iPhone models. He believes that once they upgrade to a 4,7-inch model, they will find that their actual pocket presence isn't going to change that much. In fact, 58,4% of internal respondents indicated that either the larger iPhone 6 or 6 Plus has the perfect screen size.
• People don't care about the variety of colors: Munster says that the main feature of the iPhone 5c, the latest low-end iPhone model, was its variety of colors. But that turned out to be 'undesirable for most consumers«, Because many of them they use their phones with cases. The only factor that could drive sales of the iPhone 6c would be its smaller size, which he believes is not important.
• It wouldn't be cheap: In previous reports on the iPhone 6c they pointed out that it would not only be smaller, but also cheaper, with priced around $ 450 per device. But Munster notes that Apple's standards are too high to lower the price so low, and doing so would be a "change in Apple's philosophy." The iPhone 5c had a starting price of $ 549.

“The reality is that whether the device is real or not doesn't matter. We would not expect Apple to sell significantly more iPhone 6c devices than the typical low-end model and that the margins are not expected to be significantly different either. "

Of KGI, Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's top analyst, wrote on Thursday that a smaller iPhone model may come with some of the same components as the iPhone 6s models, including the A9 processor. He wrote that it could be priced in the range of $ 400 to $ 500, targeting emerging markets and lower budget customers.