Rumor: iPhone HD to Feature A4 Chip, Front-Facing Camera

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The iPhone 3GS. Creative Commons-licensed photo by Fr3d: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fr3d/2660915827/
The iPhone 3GS. Creative Commons-licensed photo by Fr3d: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fr3d/2660915827/

Accompanying a report that Verizon may begin selling a new iPhone are rumors Apple is developing a new handset dubbed the iPhone HD. The new handset would be powered by the same A4 processor as the iPad and include a forward-facing camera suitable for teleconferencing.

Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber wrote Monday the handset would use the iPhone 4.0 software, permitting users to multitask applications. Gruber has dismissed a recent Wall Street Journal report suggesting the Cupertino, Calif. company is working on two new iPhones – one CDMA version for Verizon Wireless – as a “lame entry in the iPhone rumors game.”


Another rumor, this one from Engadget, suggests the iPhone HD could be unveiled on Tuesday, June 22, ahead of the WWDC 2010 expected between June 28 and July 2.

The iPhone HD reportedly would take several steps toward the iPad, distancing itself from previous versions of the popular Apple phone. Like the iPad, the iPhone HD apparently would use Apple’s custom-built 1GHz A4 processor. The A4 is the result of Apple’s $278 million acquisition of fabless chip designer P.A. Semi. The new iPhone would also sport a 960×640 screen, double that of the 320×480 display on current Apple handsets, reports suggest. The move is seen as responding to Android-based handsets with screen resolutions around 480×800.

[via AppleInsider, Daring Fireball and 9to5 Mac]

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