This morning’s press release from Apple clearly outlining the topics Steve Jobs would be covering in next week’s WWDC keynote make it crystal clear that the next iPhone is not officially on the conference’s agenda for the first time in three years. Instead, WWDC will focus on software: iOS, Lion and iCloud.
But could there be a “one more thing?” And could it be the iPhone 4S? That’s what a new rumor is suggesting… but take it with a grain of salt.
According to Japanese Apple site Macotakara, Cupertino will unveil the iPhone 4S at WWDC next week, for a launch early this summer.
Most of the reported features of the iPhone 4S that Macotakara cites gel with previous rumors. The iPhone 4S, according to them, will be a minor upgrade featuring a dual-core A5 chip, an 8 megapixel camera, support for both GSM and CDMA networks on one global device and — most interestingly — an integrated SIM.
It’s the talk of an integrated SIM where this rumor falls apart. Recent reports have suggested that Apple is working to make the SIM card in the iPhone even smaller, but they won’t be eliminating it completely.
An integrated SIM would take the form of a reprogrammable module, that could allow iPhone owners to switch their network through iTunes. It sounds like a killer boon for both Apple and users, but carriers hate this idea, and would likely fight it tooth and nail. An iPhone with a reprogrammable SIM module is an iPhone the carriers can’t control.
We seriously doubt Apple would surprise us like this with a WWDC reveal of the iPhone 4S. They’ve spent the last month or two making sure to set the expectation that there won’t be any new hardware at WWDC: they wouldn’t do that just to perform the cheap trick of revealing a negligibly updated new iPhone. This year, WWDC’s all about software… but just wait until September.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
74 responses to “The iPhone 4S Might Be WWDC’s “One More Thing” [Rumor]”
Um… Wasn’t there a bigger display coming on the next iPhone or did I miss something..?
Just one of many rumours (the bigger display).
It’s less likely than most rumours however in that it requires Apple to be “copying” the current Android trend for bigger screens when in fact, Apple typically doesn’t care about trends per se, or what the other companies do and doesn’t generally use such information to design it’s products.
All of this, including display sizes, is just rumor at this point. Next iPhone in September 2011, next form factor in September 2012 the name on it (4S, 4LTE, 4GS, or 5) is irrelevant in my opinion.
Integrated SIM is totally unworkable. If you live in Europe or Asia you have to carry a half a dozen SIM cards with you when you travel. People just don’t use Roaming because the fees are astronomical. You go from Thailand to Cambodia or Singapore you just change SIM’s En-Route. Packages are very cheap so you can have one for each country you frequent or if you don’t go often to a particular destination then you just use Pre-Paid which can be purchased almost everywhere like 7-11 Etc. How are you going to make that work with an integrated SIM module?
Might be OK for America where you get only 2 carriers rammed down your throats but there are hundreds of carriers to choose from elsewhere. Not sure about the numbers, but I suspect that the amount of iPhones sold in America is quite small compared to the world market. Would be interesting to see if anyone has those statistics though.
Your description of the potential product enhancements as a ‘negligible update’ is unnecessarily (and inaccurately) belittling of the engineering required to deliver them. Such a product would be a significant step forward for iPhone. It’s easy to get carried away with the idea that every Apple announcement must move the Earth to be valuable. This is not so. Steady but sure sails the good ship towards the elusive goal of perfection.
Okay, guess I don’t qualify as a FanBoy because I am really starting to lose track of which iPhone (or even which feline Mac OS) is the Next Big Thing.
I’m beginning to think they should all be released– and evaluated– like wine vintages. E.G. Mac OS 2010 (a.k.a OS 10.4.3 or Black Cat) was a robust offering, with zippy undertones, but occasionally suffered in comparison with the 10.5.
It would be really dumb if Apple does not reveal a new iPhone: the owners of a 3GS with a two-year contract are likely to switch to maybe an Android if they’re not an Apple-fanboy. Considering that, I think Apple will still introduce a new iPhone as ‘One more thing’. And if the rumors are true and the 3GS does not support iOS 5… 3GS users won’t be happy at all.
Secondly; why would they call it the 4S? The S from ‘Speed’? Like the iPhone 4 isn’t fast? Don’t think so.
Odds are about 1 in a billion that anything related to the iphone hardware is going to be talked about at WWDC.
Thanks to the Japan disaster, supplies haven’t been up to Apple’s launch amounts. They need a delay if only for that.
And Apple isn’t the habit of announcing something if they don’t know the exact date of release (even if they don’t tell us the date right away). Something they might not know at this point in time.
Not to mention that they are pushing the whole WWDC is about getting back to its focus on software. Which fits with their stick up their collective butts about being forced to someone else’s schedule for releases.
And if they have their shite together they can always do a home base announcement to local media and stream it to the world as early as the end of next week
There might be a few folks that are wishy washy about the iphone and will switch to something else. but they will be fair outnumbered by the ones that have updated to every new phone at the extra cost and will wait until Jobs does his thang. Even if it isn’t until next year
As for the 3gs and iOS5 talk. Apple allowed folks to update the actually not fully supported 3g to iOS4 and it was a total cock up. They warned folks that the hardware wasn’t really up to the requirements and performance would be questionable. But folks did it anyway and demanded Apple fix it when it was shite. Apple is not legally bound in any way to support the 3gs beyond the 2 years from date of initial release that they promised (which will have passed by the time iOS5 is launched) and given that it is the older chipset etc it has likely been deemed to be another 3g. They don’t want that chaos again so they will block the 3gs from updating at all. The beauty is that most folks are so AppleCult that they will happily update their phone and contract to the iphone 5/4s/whatever to get the fancy new bits and baubles.
All of then are the Next Big Thing. It’s marketing wank.
I was laughing the other day at a magazine cover story that was all “Apple’s new iMacs are the faster ever”. Well no kidding. That’s the nature of upgrades. They are bigger, faster, stronger.
“An integrated SIM would take the form of a reprogrammable module, that
could allow iPhone owners to switch their network through iTunes. It sounds like a killer boon for both Apple and users,…”
Actually I have to disagree. If it is required to use iTunes to change the carrier – as opposed to just popping in a new SIM card in-flight – I would loose flexibility not gaining it.
Ciao,
Christian
That half a dozen SIM Cards is the point. The rumor is that Apple is moving toward a sim that is software based. Instead of a bunch of cards, you go into the carrier store, have them add the IMEI into their system and generate a sim number that is put into the phone. or have them enter the sim into their system.
If they unlock all units and set up the software the right way it might even be able to switch between carriers seamlessly based on the tower id. Awesome if you are a frequent traveler who does a lot of pay as you go. You don’t have to switch anything. You land and you are good to call.
Exactly. If the whole logic is a rumor is that ‘so in so is already doing it’ you can count it as false. Apple is almost pathological about not doing things cause everyone else is (case in point, blu-ray)
I’d fully understand if Apple doesn’t support iOS 5 for 3GS users, but again; 3GS users are forced to switch to an iPhone 4 if they don’t bring out a new one, and nobody will be happy to buy a phone that’s already a year old… That’s like almost antique in electronics.
If you disagree then don’t use iPhone… that’s simple right…
“One more thing” might be a refresh to the MacPro & 30″ display, that today some iMacs outperform…..a 32″ with built in AppleTV, 720p HD camera using a thunderbolt connection?
Problem with that is it is not anonymous. It’s another Big Brother job. Now I can buy a phone from any of 5000 shops in 2 square miles and then go to any of 10,000 7-11 shops or other outlets and buy a SIM for $ 1.50 along with 20 bucks worth of refill vouchers. I now have a Voice/3G Data connection that is totally anonymous. I have never given anyone any identity docs. If I stick it in a drawer for 6 months and then use it once and smash it to pieces, the chances of anyone ever figuring out, or proving who used are extremely high.
That is what they want to take away from you with this system. Don’t worry too much though as there are plenty of other manufacturers that will continue to offer handsets with standard SIM cards.
Apple is announcing iCloud, OSX Lion & iOS5 @ WWDC on 6/6, with iOS5 mentioned it should be obvious that the next iPhone will atleast be mentioned, possibly announced.
That’s not really the point. It’s not like he has the option to use a sim if he chooses, it’s that Apple wouldn’t allow it. If Apple wants to expand their customer base they ought to take stuff like this into consideration. They can’t just say, “Oh well. Don’t like it don’t use it.”
That’s not really the point. It’s not like he has the option to use a sim if he chooses, it’s that Apple wouldn’t allow it. If Apple wants to expand their customer base they ought to take stuff like this into consideration. They can’t just say, “Oh well. Don’t like it don’t use it.”
Exactly! We will see the next iPhone (for release this summer) at WWDC. I bet a dollar on it! Check this opinion out. http://infinitescoop.com/the-n…
lol, sorry sounds like you enjoy doing things you’d rather not have the authorities know that you are doing with your phone.
Again, just because this doesn’t fit your use doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. Maybe your example represents only 1% of customers and the other 99% is fine.
Anyone care to elaborate how removing the sim, removes the control the carriers have?
If I buy an unlocked phone, I can use any carrier I want (take for example a 3g iPad) the carriers have no control over me. I’m pretty sure I can get these sim cards fairly easily (never have bothered to try)
How is it that once I’ve moved to a software solution (could almost call it an integrated flashable sim card) that the carriers have lost this so called control? If I’ve purchased my phone on contract, I’m still paying money to carrier A even if I decided to use carrier B.
Personally for me the one more thing will be Apple TV gaming through iCloud :)
The “one more thing” will be MacBook Air update with touch display.
Something to consider when forecasting whether or not there will be an iPhone announcement at WWDC is that for all years since the advent of the iPhone but one (2008), Apple has issued a press release in May announcing the keynote without mentioning the iPhone. And every year there’s a press release announcing the latest iPhone on the date of the keynote, according to Apple’s Press Release Library: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/ The fact that today’s press release doesn’t mention the iPhone is totally consistent with this pattern. And that it does mention other items so specifically (Lion, iOS 5, iCloud) seems to lend some credence to the possibility that an iPhone announcement could be the “one more thing.”
So AND so. AND.
Except not, because using a touchscreen on a laptop is impractical, as Steve himself explained when he introduced the iPad.
Yipee for you. Those are not iphones. They can do what they want. No one is forcing them to do as iphones do.
So you want to be Mr Private Anti Big Brother, just keep buying those not iphones.
Nah, some folks just need their meds checked. They get worked up about a phone contract and laws about GPS requirements and forget that their lives are in 100 other places.
No one is forcing anyone to buy anything. They can stay right where they are.
Also, speak for yourself, there are plenty of folks that have no issue with buying a phone that is already a year old if it fits their requirements.
Not to mention the detail that Apple is likely to release a new iphone. When and what it looks like etc is the only unknown
That is what Jobbies does though. You know, no flash on iDevice and if you don’t like it, bugger off. Cranial/sphincter!
I don’t understand why people keep using the term “minor upgrade.” How does new (dual-core) processor, better camera, entirely new operating system, new antenna and dual-mode GSM/CDMA chipset equate to a minor upgrade? Sounds to me like just about every major component would be changed in this scenario. Is changing the appearance of a device required for it to be considered a major upgrade?
yeah, pretty much. They want to down play these changes as much as possible because those customers that got an iPhone last year and the Verizon customers this year will pitch a major fit if a phone comes out and they can’t get it. With Android doing that now with 20 different variations of their phones, customers are getting tired of switching phones every 6 months. So if Apple does drop a new phone, they are claiming “minor” changes to appease those that have an iPhone 4 so that they can get the next big thing which would be a “major” overhauled iPhone 5. It’s word play to appease the masses.
its just apple trying to gain more control as they appeal to the mass market
All I’m hoping for is a discount on the iPad2 for students. I didn’t apply to grad school for nothing.
can’t wait to see the features of phone 4s!
How many people have a 3gs? Lots. How many people’s contracts will be up around summer? Lots. How many people would apple piss off by making them renew, and a month later pay $200 for cancellation fees and $300 (which will be the price mark my words) for the new “4S”? Lots. 4S will be @ WWDC because apple are innovators in technology, not in fanfare, and the iphone comes in summer. Deal with it.