Why the new iPhone can’t lose？

Apple (US:AAPL) fans have high hopes that the next iPhone will introduce some long-awaited improvements, but even if it turns out to be just an incremental improvement over its predecessors, experts say it’s likely to be the best-selling smartphone of all time.

The next iPhone — or iPhones — will begin production this quarter, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The company plans to start production of the new model in the second quarter of the year, and is working on a less expensive version with a plastic case that could be on the market by the latter half of the year, people familiar with the device’s production told the paper. (Apple did not respond to requests for comment.) After six versions in six years, and despite strong competition from Samsung, “Apple has set the bar so high, it’s even difficult for them to keep up with expectations,” says technology analyst Jeff Kagan.

Regardless of what features will (or won’t) be included, the next iPhone will likely be better than the last one. And, analysts say, that’s all many consumers really care about. “Already, the iPhone 5 has sold more than the 4S,” says Brian Colello, an analyst at Morningstar. The company sold a record 47.8 million iPhones in the first fiscal quarter of 2013, compared with 37 million during the same period a year prior. The upgrade cycle keeps demand brisk, he says. The first iPhone 4S customers who bought their gadgets in October 2011 will be itching for a new subsidized phone now that their two-year contract is at an end, Colello says. “The smartphone market is still in the early to middle innings,” he says. “More and more people are buying these phones.”



But to further outpace the competition, Apple may look to improve some of the features that most irritate customers. “Apple needs to fix a lot of operating system flaws,” says Claude Zdanow, founder and president of Stadiumred, an entertainment company in New York. Among his suggestions: a custom interface showing personalized news like stock prices and a more accurate autocorrect feature. “Why does it change the word good to hook?” he says. Siri could give more specific answers and, taking a leaf out of the BlackBerry’s playbook, the iPhone could make its email app more business-friendly, he says. “Email is the largest complaint when it comes to the iPhone,” Zdanow says. “I’d also like to see proper search features and better organized folders.”