Tag Archives: iPhone 5

Apple Is Internally Testing A New Quad-Core iPhone With 720p, 16:9 Display [Rumor]

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With every new iPhone, we know to expect a faster processor and faster GPU. However, a weird report coming out of Germany says that Apple isn’t just testing new CPUs and GPUs for the next generation of iPhone… they are also testing some truly bizarro resolutions that could indicate that Apple will radically redesign the iPhone in 2012 to be even higher resolution and with an entirely new aspect ratio.

German Mac blog Macerkopf is reporting (Google translation) that two sources independently tell them Apple is internally testing a number of configurations for new iOS devices internally, in both quad-core and dual-core CPU varieties.

What’s weirder, though, are the resolutions of the devices Apple is reportedly testing. One is the standard Retina Display, a 960 x 640 resolution affair. But here’s where it gets interesting: Macerkopf says that Apple is also testing a 1280 x 720 (or 720p) device (that display would be similar to the LG Nitro HD‘s display), as well as an utterly bizarre 1440 x 800 device.

Why are these resolutions so notable? Well, they are totally different aspect ratios than the current iPhone, which has a 3:2 aspect ratio. The 720p display has an aspect ratio of 16:9, but the 1440 x 800 device is just odd. In fact, it’s so odd, that it makes me wonder if it’s not just a typo: maybe they meant 1440 x 900, which is, again, an HD standard 16:9 widescreen resolution. Makes a lot more sense.

Right now, there’s only a single report from a site with a spotty track record on making Apple predictions, so take this all with a grain of salt, especially given how loathe Apple is to fragment iOS between different aspect ratios (they’ve only done it once, with the iPad). But if — big if! — Macerkopf is right, we could see a new iPhone next year boasting a higher density display and a totally new aspect ratio in 2012. Between that, the iPad 3 and the possibility of a proper iTV, 2012 is looking like it might be a hell of a year.

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Japan rumor: LTE iPad 3 coming in summer 2012, LTE iPhone 5 in Fall

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According to the Japanese blog Macotakara, which relayed a Nikkei Business story, Apple is gearing up for a 2012 release of both 4G LTE iPhone and iPad on NTT DoCoMo, the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. According to the machine-translated article:

NTT DOCOMO releases iPad for LTE in the summer of next year and releases iPhone for LTE by autumn.

The Fall 2011 timeframe for a 4G LTE iPhone 5 sounds right as it’s about a year since the October 14 debut of iPhone 4S. The carrier’s president Kiyoyuki Tsujimura and vice president Takashi Yamada allegedly met with Apple CEO Tim Cook mid-November to discuss the deal. They reportedly “agreed in principle” to sell both the next-generation iPhone and iPad. The executives apparently pinned down the rules of the game at the meeting, including order commitment.

Despite the rumor-mill insisting that Apple was readying a 4G LTE iPhone, the company’s management downplayed the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution radio technology because the current crop of 4G LTE chips are not fully optimized for low power consumption on mobile devices. Apple’s chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said on an April 2011 earnings call:

The first generation of LTE chipsets force a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not willing to make.

The Wall Street Journal reported mid-November that negotiations with carriers in Asia came to a standstill because Apple was requiring iPhone sellers to commit to too large a volume. Additionally, NTT DoCoMo wanted to control what software goes on users’ iPhones, a concession Apple was unwilling to make.

Apple doesn’t have a prior distribution agreement with NTT DoCoMo. Instead, the Cupertino, California designer of gadgets partnered with local carrier Softbank to sell the handset to customers in Japan. Beginning with iPhone 4S, Softbank’s exclusivity ended as Apple cut an agreement with au/KDDI. As you know, 9to5Mac yesterday discovered evidence pointing to a next-generation iPhone and iPad in the code of iOS 5.1 Beta, which was seeded to developers on Monday. An iPhone 5,1 reference is of particular interest as it indicates a major iPhone update likely involving Apple’s A6 chip, designed in-house and believed to sport four ARM Cortex A15 processing cores and an unknown graphics core. An iPad 2,4 reference, which we also discovered in iOS 5.1 Beta code, implies a carrier variation, which could mean anything from a 4G LTE version to a GSM+CDMA dual-mode device to a Sprint iPad 2 or something completely new. In a somewhat related iPhone news, carrier China Unicom is said to be awaiting the final paperwork to begin selling iPhone 4S in China. The country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently finished testing the device, it passed the necessary wireless regulatory tests and is now certified for public consumption. China, the 1.33 billion people market, recently overtook the United States to become the world’s leading market for smartphones. Accounting for twelve percent of Apple’s fiscal 2011 revenue, or about fifteen billion dollars, China is increasingly becoming one of Apple’s key growth regions.

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iPhone 5 & iPad 3 Strings Pop Up In Latest iOS 5.1 Beta Code

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Following the release of Apple’s iOS 5.1 beta yesterday, developers have been trawling through its code in an attempt to uncover references to upcoming products that Apple didn’t intend for you to see. We’ve already seen references to a next-generation Apple TV and a fourth iPad 2 — believed to be destined for Sprint — and now the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 product identifiers have been discovered.

As you can see in the strings above, Apple has included a product identifier for an ‘iPhone5,1′, which is undoubtedly the company’s sixth-generation iPhone — the iPhone 5. The iPhone began with the code ‘iPhone1,1′ when it first launched back in 2007, with Apple’s most recent iPhone, the iPhone 4S, labeled the ‘iPhone4,1′.

There seem to be no doubts, then, that iPhone5,1 is a reference to Apple’s upcoming iPhone, which is expected to sport a thinner, lighter form factor; a larger 4-inch display; and possibly 4G capabilities.

Also appearing for the first time in the new beta is a reference to the ‘iPad3,3′, which is expected to be Apple’s third-generation iPad, believed to be called the iPad 3. Rumor has it this device will be the first iPad to boast a Retina display — a feature I think we’re all looking forward to — and possibly Apple’s next-generation A6 processor.

[via MacRumors]

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iCam concept turns your iPhone 5 into a point-and-shoot killer

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When author of the official ‘Steve Jobs’ bio, Walter Isaacson, sat down for an interview with Fortune earlier this month, we learned that Steve Jobs had three key industries he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks, and photography. We’ve certainly heard a lot of rumors about an iTV in the works, and Apple has arguably already done a lot for the textbook business, despite Jobs having loftier goals for the industry as a whole. While the iPhone 4S’s redesigned camera might be good enough to get an endorsement from photographer Annie Leibovitz, the guys at ADR Studios have created this new ‘iCam’ concept imagining a separate accessory that would turn the iPhone 5 into a full-fledged point-and-shoot.

Keeping rumored iPhone 5 specs in mind, ADR’s concept would include a 10.1 megapixel sensor and provide an “ISO range from 100 to 3200 (extendable up to 6400 equivalent)” for full HD at 60fps. Imagined specs for the accessory include an aluminum unibody, interchangeable lenses, a small touch-screen on the front, LED flash, pico-projector, SD UHS-i slot, motion sensor, and bluetooth. We’re guessing a few companies are already at work on a similar accessory after seeing these gorgeous mock ups.

Click to view slideshow.

(via RedmondPie)

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Apple reportedly souring on Samsung, tapping Sharp for iPad 3 displays

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Apple’s relationship with Samsung is on the rocks, according to an investor note from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek on Tuesday. Based on a recent trip to Japan and checks with suppliers made during that trip, Jefferies says Sharp is benefitting from the Samsung falling-out, picking up impressive windfalls in terms of share of iPad 3, iPhone 5 LTE and iTV display production.

The iPad 3, iPhone 5 LTE and iTV are all unannounced products at this stage, of course. The iPad 3 has been the subject of quite a few recent rumors, including reports on Monday that suppliers were working on issues related to the manufacture of iPad Retina Displays, along with code findings in iOS 5 that point to the imminent release of a next-gen tablet device. The iPhone 5 is rumored to have a larger display, and the iTV has been the subject of plenty of speculation since making an appearance in the recent Steve Jobs biography.

Jeffries also cut its fourth quarter estimates for iPad shipments from 17 million to 14 million, which is still ahead of the Wall Street average of 13 million, following reports Apple was reducing its iPad component orders. Following its stock checks, Jeffries believes “reports have overstated the iPad weakness as they have not accounted for inventory at Hon Hai [Foxconn], iPad 3 production starting in CQ4 [fourth calendar quarter] and Sharp’s share gain.”

Parts sourcing for iPad 3 production has been reported to be already underway. DigiTimes reported last week that Apple had ordered two million display panels from Samsung, LG and Sharp in November, adding to an earlier order for one million in October. The components, according to DigiTimes, were intended for assembly at Apple’s final product manufacturing partners in January. And Monday, a DisplaySearch report also claimed the iPad 3′s 2048×1536 display had entered production, at Samsung, LG and Sharp.

Apple and Samsung sat down in October to discuss the long-term supply relationship between the two companies, but if Misek’s and other reports of Apple attempting to diversify its supplier chain for upcoming devices prove true, it looks like that relationship is indeed becoming harder to maintain. The legal battle between the two companies is really only becoming more pitched, with Samsung needing to make major hardware changes to its devices in Germany, and injunction requests flying back and forth around the world.

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In 2012, Apple Will Blur The Line Between Your iPhone And Mac Using NFC And iCloud

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Photo by Feuillu - http://flic.kr/p/9iW8ey

In 2012, Apple will roll out Near Field Communications technology (NFC) to their devices, allowing the iPhone 5 to finally function as an e-wallet. Big whup, everyone’s already had that idea, even Google.

Here’s what will turn the mind-numbing technology into something that will blow your mind: NFC in the iPhone 5 will finally allow Apple to go live with their ambitious NFC-backed remote computing strategy which will totally blur the line between iOS devices and Macs.

Taiwan-based industry publication DigiTimes is reporting this morning that Apple plans to support NFC next year, probably as part of a new iPhone and updated iOS. While this could boost the number of handsets offering the technology from 10 percent to more than 50 percent over the next two or three years, what’s potentially more exciting is the potential for swapping data between your iOS device and your Mac with just the wave of your hand.

As we exclusively reported a year ago, e-wallets on the iPhone would only be the start for the short-range wireless connection technique. Apple is also laying the groundwork for an ambitious remote computing strategy started under Steve Jobs before his death.

Here’s how it would work, thanks to the enormous storage now available through iCloud. You’re getting ready to leave work. Wave your iPhone in front of you cubicle’s Mac and your desktop’s applications, settings and data are transferred to the phone. As you walk out the door, the work computer’s settings return to normal. Arrive at home, wave your iPhone in front of your MacBook and you have an instant copy of your work PC to finish that project.

In essence, you can carry your PC in your pocket and the line between devices blurs to the point of vanishing. Yep. E-wallets are coming to your iPhone next year  – but that’s just the start. Pretty soon, the iPhone in your pocket won’t be just a smartphone, it’ll be your Mac and your credit card too.

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iPhone-Using Rabbi Slams Apple And Steve Jobs For Creating Egocentric, Selfish Society

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The U.K.’s Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, has slammed Apple and its co-founder Steve Jobs for creating an egocentric and selfish consumer society that has only led to unhappiness. He claims the company’s advertising methods only make shoppers aware of what they don’t own, and he singled out Apple for creating a culture in which people only care about themselves. What hypocritical nonsense.

It’s unclear why Lord Sacks has taken a stab at Apple in particular, but speaking at an interfaith reception attended by the Queen this week, he said:

The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad one and iPad two, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, i, i, i. When you’re an individualist, egocentric culture and you only care about ‘i’, you don’t do terribly well.

He went on to criticize Apple’s “subtly seductive” approaches to advertising:

If in a consumer society, through all the advertising and subtly seductive approaches to it, you’ve got an iPhone but you haven’t got a fourth generation one, the consumer society is in fact the most efficient mechanism ever devised for the creation and distribution of unhappiness.

Of course, Apple isn’t the only company who uses this approach to lure consumers into purchasing its latest products. In fact, it’s hard to think of a company that doesn’t do this. But why this creates unhappiness is a bit of a mystery to me.

A spokesman for Lord Sacks later attempted to clarify his comments:

 The Chief Rabbi meant no criticism of either Steve Jobs personally or the contribution Apple has made to the development of technology in the 21st century.

He admires both and indeed uses an iPhone and an iPad on a daily basis. The Chief Rabbi was simply pointing out the potential dangers of consumerism when taken too far.

So despite his criticism, Lord Sacks uses an iPhone and an iPad on a “daily basis.” Maybe he chose to slam Apple, then, because he’s still gutted we haven’t seen the iPhone 5 yet.

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Retina Display iPad 3 Will Be 8% Thicker Than iPad 2, 4-Inch iPhone 5 Coming Next Summer [Rumor]

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Take this with a grain of salt, but a “reliable source” speaking to iLounge has three inside scoops on Apple’s 2012 product line-up. Their veracity? Offhand, we’d say one of them’s a certainty, one of them’s probable and the last one is nutty.

Here’s what iLounge’s source has to say:

• The iPad 3 will be slightly thicker than the iPad 2: 0.77mm thicker, or about 8%. This is necessary to install the twin light bar system needed to illuminate a 9.7-inch Retina Display. Makes sense to us, as does iLounge’s claim that the iPad 3 would be released in March but shown off for the first time in January: that would give devs plenty of time to update their iPad apps to the new Retina Display.

• The iPhone 5 is still coming as a 4-inch device, but won’t be the teardrop version that everyone was talking about before the iPhone 4S’s debut. It will be 8mm longer than the iPhone 4S and come in a metal casing. We’re just not buying it: Steve Jobs was worried about fragmenting the iPhone marketshare with two different display types before he died, and 3.5 inches is perfect for one-hand operation. The 4-inch iPhone is a pipe dream, we think.

They also say the iPhone 5 will be released next summer, which I also seriously doubt: a September/October timeframe for the iPhone makes a lot more sense, in that it is closer to Christmas.

• Finally, iLounge uncontroversially claims 2012 will see the MacBook Pro line finally get a redesign, though they don’t say what that will look like. I’d say this is a no brainer: the MacBook Pro line hasn’t seen an update since late 2008, and they are ripe for a MacBook Air-like redesign, abandoning their optical drives and gaining ubiquitous SSDs.

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Is This The Next-Gen LTE Chipset That The iPad 3 And iPhone 5 Have Been Waiting For?

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has been blunt about Cupertino’s plans for adopting LTE: they’d love to, but they’re waiting on next-gen LTE chipsets that aren’t so power-thirsty they’ll turn your iPhone’s battery pack into a desiccated husk within seconds of flipping the 4G radio on.

Well, Qualcomm may have just announced the next-gen LTE chipset that might finally allow Apple to roll out 4G speeds to iDevices in 2012.

The chipset is the Gobi 4000 for 4g LTE and HSPA+ devices, and it’s also backwards compatible with HSPA and EV-DO. The chips are based on Qualcomm’s MDM9600 and MDM 9200 3G/4G wireless partners. Devices coming up that will come with LG’s LTE chipset includes future Lenovo ThinkPads and Dell’s Latitude laptops.

But what about Apple, who has been leaning towards Qualcomm Gobi chips for the last year? While the press release obviously doesn’t mention Apple by name, we’d say it’s very possible that the Gobi 4000 LTE chipset is going to make its way into Apple’s devices next year… starting with the iPad 3.

Why the iPad 3? A few reasons.

One, Apple’s already been seen testing LTE iPads in the wild as recently as August.

Second, even with next-gen chips, LTE is likely to suck up more battery than existing 3G chipsets… and as far as sheer battery volume is concerned, the iPad has more of it to spare than the iPhone, making it a great test platform.

Finally, the iPad’s pricing structure already attaches a $130 premium to the price of any 3G iPad. Apple could price 4G iPads with a similar premium.

If you think about it, Apple’s going to have a lot of problem rolling out LTE in the next year. The only network who is really ready for LTE is Verizon, with AT&T and now Sprint now scrambling to catch up. Releasing an iPhone with LTE first guarantees that these still weak networks will be absolutely crushed. But if Apple releases iPads with LTE first and prices the LTE models with a premium, Cupertino can test out LTE’s affects on the networks and their devices’ battery life on a manageable number of tablets… all while raking in money hand-over-first.

What do you think? iPad 3 w/ Wi-Fi + 3G + LTE in 2012? Let us know in the comments.

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The iPhone 5 Was Canned At The Last Minute, Instead We Got The iPhone 4S [Rumor]

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An iPhone 5 concept prototype by benm.at

Business Insider claims to have information on an iPhone 5 prototype from a source that “spent about two weeks” with the device. Citing several details about the alleged prototype, the source says that Apple ended up ditching the iPhone 5 at the last minute. Instead, the iPhone 4S was released as an incremental update to the product line.

While even Business Insider notes that its source has not been completely verified, the provided details do stack up nicely with the rumors we were all hearing leading up the iPhone 4S announcement.

Well, it turns out the “iPhone 5″ – or at least, a fully redesigned iPhone – was real and it was scrapped only months before the iPhone 4S was announced.

We’ve been told this by an industry source who has been right about future Apple products in the past.

Apparently, Apple was actually working on the revolutionary iPhone prototype that several mainstream outlets were suggesting existed prior to the 4S. The iPhone 5 prototype in question allegedly had a 4-inch diagonal screen, aluminum back, touch-based home button, tapered design, incredible performance, and a 10 megapixel camera.

Siri was supposedly called “Assistant,” which lines up perfectly with another report that pegged the same name for Apple’s new voice technology. According to the unnamed source, the prototype also featured “a nicer screen with better colors,” but the device had a “messed up” color profile while in testing.

Our source said that Apple engineers he knows thought until about three months before the iPhone 4S was released, that a new fully re-designed iPhone was going to be Apple’s next big announcement.

Why did Apple can the iPhone 5 leading up to the announcement? Steve Jobs didn’t like the screen size.

He says the rumor among Apple employees is that Steve Jobs was unhappy with the bigger screen because it “fragmented” iPhones, Apple’s big argument against Android is the way all the different phones from different manufactureres fragment that operating system.

All of the specs mentioned by the source have been rumored before, so it’s not a stretch to assume that Apple has at least been working on an iPhone with some of these features. Some have called the iPhone 4S a rushed product, and it’s definitely odd that Apple would wait nearly two years to release an iPhone that’s barely different from the iPhone 4.

In all of this speculation, it’s important to remember that Apple is a company that plans its products years in advance. Was the iPhone 4S always the backup plan while Apple was testing the iPhone 5? Is a radical device like the purposed iPhone 5 prototype still coming? Who knows.

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