Apple's iPhone 6 may be one of the worst-kept secrets -- and most highly anticipated devices -- of the year.
Since introducing the iPhone in 2007, Apple has added a new model every year, with seven generations (covering eight models) so far. For the past three years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has unveiled the new design in the fall, which is why company watchers expect this year's update -- dubbed the iPhone 6 because it follows last year's iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C -- to make its debut in September.
The fact that Apple hosts one big phone event a year, while rivals seem to launch new devices every month, makes each iPhone launch a big deal. That's especially true given that the smartphone is Apple's biggest moneymaker, accounting for more than half of sales and about 70 percent of profit, according to analysts.
See also Apple sets Sept. 9 for new iPhone debut, report says Apple posts solid Q3 profit, but iPhone sales don't wow WWDC set the stage. Now Apple needs to deliver CNET's iPhone 6 rumor roundupExpectations are particularly high for the iPhone 6, which is expected to be a "major" update to the smartphone. Apple has followed a pattern of introducing big new designs every other year, with appealing but modest updates -- like the 5S and 5C -- in between. But Apple investors and boosters are now ready for revolutionary, rather than evolutionary products, and Cook has said he'll deliver compelling new products in the second half of this year.
So what Cook and his team, led by design chief Jony Ive, put into the iPhone 6 matters. The company can't afford to lose defectors to archrival Samsung or have Apple users wait another year before they upgrade. The iPhone's worldwide smartphone market share plummeted from a peak of 23 percent in fourth quarter of 2011 to 12 percent in the second quarter of 2014, according to market researcher IDC. That puts it in second place behind Samsung.
Though the South Korean giant has battled Apple over patents in the courts and is feeling the heat from Chinese vendors including Xiaomi, Huawei, and Lenovo in fast-growing emerging markets, Samsung still ships more than twice as many smartphones as Apple each quarter.
It's far from game over for Apple. In the latest quarter, ended June 28, consumers bought 35.2 million iPhones even though Apple's latest devices -- the 5S, which added a new touch fingerprint security system and faster chip, and the lower-cost, plastic encased 5C -- were nearly nine months old.
The iPhone 6 just may be one of the largest product launches in Apple's 38-year history. Apple reportedly has asked manufacturing partners to produce about 70 million to 80 million units of its larger screen iPhones by December 30, which is about 30 percent to 40 percent more iPhones than it ordered for its initial run of last year's iPhone 5S and 5C.
Apple iOS 8 at WWDC 2014 (pictures) See full gallery
