Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has revealed that he recently spent $100 million on Apple shares in anticipation that they will rebound. The 59-year-old believes that Apple is a “very promising” investment, despite the current share price being almost 40% off its peak last September.
Japanese telecom provider KDDI’s mobile branch is planning to kick off its iPhone 5S pre-orders on June 20 ahead of a launch in July, according to an internal document that has been making its way around the web. The carrier expects the device to offer a 13-megapixel camera as well as Apple’s latest iOS 7 operating system.
Tim Cook suggested during Apple’s earnings call earlier this week that the Cupertino company wouldn’t be announcing any new products until later this year. So it’s no surprise to see that analysts from Citigroup are now reporting that the iPhone 5S will be available in early September, alongside a new low-cost iPhone for emerging markets.
Today Apple announced its financial earnings for the last fiscal quarter, reporting the first year-over-year loss in profit the company has seen in ten years. The tone of Apple’s call with investors was quite different than past quarters. Tim Cook and co. seemed very much on the defensive, as Wall Street has been hammering AAPL for the past several months.
There were still several interesting tidbits from the call that we’ve rounded up. Tim Cook spoke vaguely about exciting new products in the fall and throughout 2014. Comments were made about the possibility of a larger iPhone, iMac supply constraints, and, of course, plenty of numbers.
Supposedly, these nanoSIM trays are for the iPhone 5S. They look exactly like nanoSIM trays for the iPhone 5, except for one thing: they are in gold and gray. This is notable because in the iPhone 5 the nanoSIM trays were silver and black, and the iPhone 5S is rumored to come in different colors.
Except… gold seems like a pretty gaudy color to release a new iPhone in, don’t you think? And gray is sort of an anti-color, not the kind of thing you get excited about buying a new iPhone for. “Check out my cool gray iPhone!”
Apple’s hard-to-meet high standards and its low price expectations have earned it the nickname “Poison Apple” with Asian suppliers, who say they are feeling the affects of decreasing demand of the iPhone. Several have told Reuters that they are trying to reduce their reliance on Apple amid increasing competition from companies like Samsung.
We’re pretty confident the iPhone 5S will look almost identical to the iPhone 5, but its insides are likely to be a little different. Recent rumors have claimed Apple could add a faster processor to the device, along with fingerprint technology and improved cameras. And one of those cameras may have been leaked.
The picture above shows what is believed to be a front-facing camera for the iPhone 5S.
The iPhone 5 has one of the best cameras you’ll find on a smartphone, but Apple could be looking to make it even better for the iPhone 5S. According to the latest rumor surrounding the next iPhone, we can expect a 12-megapixel camera with improved low-light shooting, and HDR video recording.
Foxconn has begun taking on new workers as it prepares to begin production of Apple’s next iPhone, according to two seperate reports from Bloombergand The Wall Street Journal.
The company has added to its numbers at an iPhone plant in Zhengzhou, eastern China, ending a freeze on recruitment that was implemented back in February. The new workers will reportedly assemble the upcoming “iPhone 5S,” as well as existing models that Apple has requested to boost capacity, a supply chain source said.
Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets has been making some zany predictions lately, perhaps best exemplified by his recent claim that Apple’s forthcoming HDTV will be controlled using a Green Lantern like power ring called the iRing.
Almost as if to apologize for releasing a report written so clearly after an all-night bender, White is now making a more sensible prediction that falls in line with other reports: that his sources in the Asian supply chain have told him the iPhone 5S’s killer feature will be a fingerprint scanner.