Piper Jaffray Analyst Suggests 64 GB iPhone 6 Will Include Sapphire Display

A new analyst note suggests that there will be one iPhone 6 variant with a sapphire display once Apple reveals the device to the world at its September 9 launch event in California.

Though he's one of the more prominent voices among market analysts, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster has garnered a reputation as a 'hit-or-miss' analyst. He's not alone in this regard, though, and to be fair, there are few other analysts who have as much clout or as good a track record as KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo. Doubts on Munster aside, his latest note to investors claims that there will be one iPhone 6 variant with a sapphire display - the 64 GB version.

'We believe that Apple may upgrade the screen of the 64 GB versions of the iPhone 6 to sapphire as an early market test to see consumer feedback for sapphire screen phones with the eventual intention of moving the whole product line to sapphire within 2 years (i.e., iPhone 7),' said Munster on today's note. He added that if sapphire would be included as a feature on the 64 GB variant, said storage configuration could take up 30 percent of all units based on previous survey data.

A new iPhone launch usually has bearing on Apple's stock prices, and Munster chimed in on that topic as well. AAPL's price target was raised from $105 to $120, and according to Munster, this would mainly be driven by several other rumored 'killer features' for the iPhone 6, namely the much-rumored mobile payment system, and the previously confirmed HomeKit and HealthKit on iOS 8. The possibility of an iWatch launch on September 9 was another variable mentioned by the analyst when justifying the price target, though Munster noted that he isn't sure of such an announcement, as debuting the iWatch next week would potentially take away focus from the iPhone 6's arrival.

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