iPhone 6 on Release Date with Voice Messaging, iWatch Pairing Will Sell 58M+ Units – Analysts

The iPhone 6 on its release date this 2014 is naturally stuffed with loads of killer features and likely among them is voice messaging that Apple CEO Tim Cook envisions could eventually replace texting, according to new reports.

In a report by MacRumors, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich said he recently met with Cook and the latter allegedly hinted that one major feature packed with iOS 8 is voice messaging. The new software, of course, is expected to power the upcoming iPhone 6.

In Cook's mind, iPhone users would readily embrace the concept of sending messages by speaking on their phone instead of the traditional key tapping. According to Milunovich, this new way of texting was witnessed by the Apple chief in a recent China trip.

The same feature "also could aid penetration of China," the UBS analyst was quoted by MacRumors as saying in a new research note.

However, taking on the phone with nobody on the other end of the line may not be too attractive to consumers outside of China so there has to be a companion device to go with the next iPhone for the new feature to take off.

Enter the iWatch that will pair with the device, which according to Business Insider will solve two things for Apple. For one, people will not need to awkwardly type their text messages on the relatively small screen of the wearable device.

Also, it seems cooler to whisper short dispatches on the iWatch than on the iPhone so the two pairing via Bluetooth in support of the hard-coded iOS 8 feature really makes sense, added the report.

It is expected that Siri, actually an enhanced version of the Apple-authored digital assistant, will play a big role in the new offering, said the Business Insider report.

Now this well-planned packaging of the iPhone 6 and the iWatch will likely create exciting prospects for the tech giant, starting in the fourth quarter of 2014, a report by Evercore Partners analyst Rob Cihra said this week.

Looking at the extreme north of possibility, Cihra projected that Apple's fresh hardware push in the last few months of the year will see the tech giant clearing some 58 million units of iPhone by December 2014, bannered of course by the new iPhone 6 models that reportedly will hit the market in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes.

The iWatch alone, Cihra said, is a growth product for Apple, likely selling some 18 million units on its first year in circulation and bearing a sticker price of $249.

"We see Apple creating its own growth through uniquely innovative hardware+software with integrated services vs. a sea of otherwise commodity devices," the Evercore analyst told Apple Insider.

The iPhone 6 release date and that of the iWatch are viewed by numerous analysts as a simultaneous event, with the volume production for both devices set to start this July, on September 19.