Hot Tip: iPhone 2 Features Detailed — 3G, GPS, 2xRAM, Thinner, Better Battery and Only $200

By

post-2032-image-72ab657c28b2f7453d11db3a7f6f735e-jpg

UPDATE: RE: the comments below. I Photoshopped the image above for illustrative purposes. It’s not a spy shot. Also, my tipster said the iPhone will be subsidized, but he didn’t specify whether the subsidy will come from Apple, AT&T, overseas carriers, or all of the above. I can only guess that Apple will sell the iPhone 2 at a loss — to customers and carriers — and recoup the cost from monthly subscriber charges.

I just got a hot tip from a programmer at a major software publisher who claims to have seen the specs for the iPhone 2. This is unconfirmed, but according to the tipster, the iPhone 2 will be announced by Steve Jobs at Apple’s WWDC on June 9, and will much offer more for much less — and be thinner to boot. The iPhone 2 will have:

  • 3G
  • GPS
  • 2 x memory (16GB and 32GB)
  • 22 percent thinner
  • Better battery life

The tipster says Apple will subsidize the iPhone’s price to better compete with RIM’s Blackberry. The London Times is reporting the same thing — that the iPhone will cost about $200 in the UK when it goes on sale in July.

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133 responses to “Hot Tip: iPhone 2 Features Detailed — 3G, GPS, 2xRAM, Thinner, Better Battery and Only $200”

  1. macandal says:

    When will it be available in the U.S.? And, will it still be restricted to be used with AT&T only?

  2. Gideon says:

    What jumps to mind immediately is regarding this 200 dollar thing…

    Those of us who had to get a 2 yr contract with AT&T without any subsidizing… are we going to be able to upgrade a phone with the discount (and even a contract renewal) or are we just SOL and have to pay whatever the full price is?

  3. Chris says:

    I can’t see it being thinner, having 3g AND also getting better battery life. 3g is a battery killer. If it does have better battery life then they would have to use a larger capacity battery, meaning a larger footprint, and thus not being thinner.

    Also the $200 rumor has been going around for months now.

  4. Chris says:

    Gibson, if you wanted to upgrade it will probably work just like buying any other phone.

    You get the phone for the current price and have to extend your current contract another 2 years.

  5. Deocliciano says:

    If this is TRUE, then I am interested.

    For 200 bucks …

    … But really it will be a SAFER move.

  6. Andrew Mayne says:

    “The tipster says Apple will subsidize the iPhone’s price to better compete with RIM’s Blackberry”

    How does a manufacturer subsidize its own product?

  7. Andrew Mayne says:

    “The tipster says Apple will subsidize the iPhone’s price to better compete with RIM’s Blackberry”

    How does a manufacturer subsidize its own product?

  8. Dan says:

    The real question: will my headphones plug into it? Or will I need an adapter?

  9. Pete says:

    Manufacturers do not subsidize their own hardware, they simply reduce the price. There is of course no reason at all for Apple to do that with demand for the phone being so high and the pent up demand ahead of iPhV2 being even higher!

    Of course, the top ‘photo’ above was shopped poorly. Note how “squishy” everything is.

    This rumor is simply that, an uneducated guess based on all the other rumors out there. Have patience, it’s only 8 days away.

  10. Pat says:

    and the iPod touch will cost about $100 next week?

  11. Alan says:

    Andrew said: “The tipster says Apple will subsidize the iPhone’s price to better compete with RIM’s Blackberry” How does a manufacturer subsidize its own product?

    Obviously by selling it below cost price.

  12. mark says:

    How does a random third party programmer have information regarding the pricing? That part seems fishy to me.

  13. david says:

    the features may be accurate… who knows? (we’ll see)
    but GUARANTEED the iphone will not be $US200..
    Historically, Apple has been known for selling premium products at premium prices, not dumping the most desired consumer object on the planet at bargain basement pricing…

  14. hrmmph says:

    if you’re going to put London and The Times in the same sentence, at least follow the only acceptable convention:
    The Times of London

  15. frank says:

    The currency of the UK is pounds, not dollars.
    200 pounds is about $400.

  16. jj says:

    Pat said: “and the iPod touch will cost about $100 next week?”

    No, no. iPhone will still be 399/499 retail, but like all other cellies in the US, you’ll get a discount for buying it with a new 2 year contract or extension. So your on contract (and, perhaps, after rebate) price will be 199/299. Touch won’t be subsidized because you needn’t a contract to buy and use it.

  17. Art Gonzalez says:

    Please excuse my lack of technical expertise, but would a 3G phone also work on a GSM network?

    Thanks,

    Art Gonzalez
    Check my Squidoo Lens at: Quantum Knights

  18. pk de cville says:

    Leander,

    You have been off in the past. Are you a bit off today?

    3G check
    GPS check
    2 x memory (16GB and 32GB) check
    22 percent thinner REALLY??????????????????
    Better battery life HOPE SO…………

    Now about the low price…. Not on DAY ONE!!!

    eom

  19. lookmark says:

    WTF? How on earth could you have 3G and GPS *and* 20% thinner *AND* more battery life? It ain’t possible.

  20. Scott H says:

    Frank: “The currency of the UK is pounds, not dollars.
    200 pounds is about $400.”

    Might want to try re-reading the article. It suggests that it will be sold at £100 GBP, roughly $200 USD.

  21. Larry says:

    Yeah, that’s badly Photoshopped. Notice the square thingy on the left side of the bottom phone. It becomes rectangular – it got “squished” – in the top phone.

    This is just (bad) rumor-mongering a week before WWDC.

  22. Dev says:

    AT&T doesn’t offer a rebate on iPhones, and it does not seem to effect the sales figures.

    $200 for the next generation that is improved in all ways?
    seems unlikely- apple knows they’ll sell no matter what the price.

  23. Joe Dirte says:

    Subsidization is out of the question. Apple didn’t’ allow it with the current iPhone and they won’t allow it with the new one. They’re locked into a deal with AT&T until 2011, meaning they would never allow AT&T to sell the phone for $200 while the Apple retail stores sold it for $499, requiring a contract with AT&T to operate it anyway. No one would be dumb enough to buy from the the Apple store then.

  24. tubsdouglas says:

    Yes 3g works on gsm. GSM is the technology and “3G” is just the newest iteration of this technology (HSDPA/HSUPA). Apple does not subsidize its own product…but ATT may subsidize the iphone. They can do this because iphone’s rather costly data and texting packages rake in more of a margin over the two year span of the contract agreement than is lost in the subsidy.

  25. Marc says:

    Manufacturers do not subsidize their own hardware, they simply reduce the price. There is of course no reason at all for Apple to do that with demand for the phone being so high and the pent up demand ahead of iPhV2 being even higher!
    If they’re doing this, it’s with a long term view.

    It makes sense if they’re looking to get a broad base off of which to derive revenue from the app store. It’s similiar to the game console market, where the hardware is a loss leader to gain critical mass, and you end up making money money from the software.

    A large install base where they make commission off of distributing other peoples bits (app store), could be *very* profitable for them long term.

    Also, if they get a bounty by folks like Google to install their apps, the ‘subsidy’ is being paid by software vendors looking for market share (not unlike ‘crapware’ on PCs)

  26. tubsdouglas says:

    The only way to do it based on the fact that apple would never sell a brand new GPS enabled, 16Gig, 3G iphone for $200 is with a rebate from ATT. Plus anyone who does not believe in the subsidy is not on the up and up. They have already confirmed that it will be subsidized overseas.

  27. Phonboy says:

    @Chris

    Everyone speculates that the iPhone 2 will be thicker. Why? Has Apple ever made a follow up product that was larger than the product it replaced? Apple makes everything sleeker, smaller, and sexier. It’s what they do. We should expect the iPhone 2 to follow the trends of their other products (MacBook Air). I’m sure Steve and his engineers have sourced a better battery or implemented some other trick to solve the 3G power problem and fit into the desired form factor.

  28. Ray says:

    I wonder if MMS is coming with the new iPhone?

  29. Sienna says:

    Kevin Rose from Digg seems to confirm this $200
    http://solsie.com/gps-on-3g-ip

  30. GeoHunt.ca says:

    I’m hoping that this is true… if it is, my 4GB model will become a paper weight, and I’ll gladly spend the $200 and sign a new 3 year contract with Rogers to get this baby in my hands!

  31. Brenden says:

    If they use an Organic LED display, as some have speculated, that would be thinner and use less power than the current display, which might explain this rumor.

  32. David Siqueiros says:

    Steve Jobs probably posted this rumor to get you all talking about the new iPhone. Genius! What do you think??

    But what I want to know is if you hack it will it work in Slovakia or Hong Kong? And will the functionality like software updates be affected by say going to T-Mobile??

  33. damianjs says:

    Not to be repetitive but with all of these new features, thinner design, etc. …sounds like typical apple to me. However the $200 price drop indicates that they are trying to put an i-phone in 8/10 peoples hands by the end of the summer. Obviously this is an exaggeration, however I thought I have been seeing i-phones quite frequently already. Perhaps I will have to break down and join the crowd.

  34. Scotty says:

    I look forward to purchasing the iPhone 2

  35. Sebhelyesfarku says:

    Bullshit. Smaller battery and better… for sure. The “tipster” is a moron.

  36. Ted says:

    if this could come true… ( !!!! ) We all are happppy!
    I am shure apple is going to do a good job – think about: their first phone changed the world, and if this iPhone2 will be sold as all the others (low price to buy – paying the rest with the 2-year contract) no need to be a prophet to say: apples iPhone will be sold as much as they are able to produce!

  37. John says:

    I have to say that I love the iPhone.

    I bought one when they first came out in the UK and unlocked it and even though it might be expensive it’s the best tech device to be brought out in years.

    GPS, camera quality and 3G are the only issues it has and hopefully the 2.0 model will correct these.

    Plus 20. when released will have the ability to download software so there’s no reason to jailbreak it too (I think i might even get the contract this time as pay-as-you-go is turning out more expensive as using texts is now so easy).

    However I am planning a trip to the states so I might buy one when I’m there (weak dollar). i wonder if I can activate it when the UK gets the 2.0 iPhone.

  38. kania says:

    when iPhone2 will be at Jakarta, Indonesia?
    and how about the prize in Indonesia?

  39. WebAgentur Koerbler says:

    I hope the new iPhone2 will be available in Austria soon :-)

    Best regards,

    Mario Koerbler

  40. Tim Bevil says:

    whoa, whoa, whoa…IF you want to upgrade and you’re in a 2 yr contract with ATT, you will simply buy the phone and extend your contract. HOWEVER, you will be paying more than the discounted price offered to those without an ATT contract or iphone. Yes, it screws, but they will charge you more (sort of a backwards way of treating a returning customer). Also, the $200 price thrown around pertains to the UK, not the States.

  41. Anon says:

    @Joe Dirte and others:
    Apple won’t allow phone subsidies? It will sell whatever price they set?
    What a load of rubbish: worldwide iPhone sales are BELOW target: unfortunately, Europe did not eat out of Apple’s hand in the same way that the US did. I was surprised, actually. There is a clear busniess case to subsidise the phone, especially with revenue sharing or AppStore, or both. UK carrier O2 is even on record saying that they are looking at the possibility of subsidies.

  42. jflyer says:

    it could absolutely be smaller…anyone ever think that they purposely made the current iPhone a little bit bigger than they needed just so that they could make the next version smaller for increased sales? its possible.

  43. WiMacMax says:

    People, wake up, Iphone are being manufactured in china, how do you think it cost to be make??? its complete cheap, nothing more than U$ 180.00 for all you can get, GPS, high clock processor, 32gb memory and whatsoever come inside it, people, where do you think the world are manufacturing their product now? CHINA, cheap handwork, all components are being manufactured also there, so, fregiht, labor, parts are all CHEAP in a very large scale, so, in my counts a China expertise importer, it doesnt cost to apple more than U$ 150.00 per unit, imagine how many profit apple did make with Iphone in just 18 months??? WAKEUP for reallity, IPhone is just a nice cosmetic cellphone with a beuatifull firmware/OS integrate, this is the secret, the parts arent secret it just pieces and this is extremely cheap in china! Screen, wakeup, 4″ screen high resolution cost U$ 12.00 only with the adapter card, so, iphone doenst cost more than U$ 150.00 to apple! Live, see, understant and choose!

  44. profile1 says:

    The manufacturer doesn’t subsidise the phone, the network does. A two year contract is worth a whole lot of money to the networks. Every cent/penny charged for SMS is 100% pure profit because it costs the network nothing at all.

    So Apple will charge wholesale prices to the network, but the price will be fixed to some extent because Apple will want to sell the iPhone through Apple Store.

    These phones may just be that much harder to unlock, activate and jailbreak.

  45. Rikoala says:

    I just couldn’t pass up the chance to say … huh?

  46. Mark says:

    iPhone is like everything Apple. Wonderful but restricted. Almost fantastic, but you cannot “programme” it like Windows or Microsoft stuff. Wake up Apple and let us use your (our) product the way we want to. Do not make it so hard. Life should be easy. Mark from Brisbane Australia PS It is a beautiful device. Almost Art in Motion

  47. he who knows says:

    hi guys,
    sry i cant put my name. I work for Optus in Sydney. I went to a conference y’day (04.06.08). Optus told us that the 3G iPhone is going to be released with them. They said it will VERY soon. my assumption here is that it will be after the 9th of June. They also made it clear that they have it instock at their warehouse ready for sale, and for us to be ready to get smashed at the store very soon. No specs yet, they are very tight lipped about it..

  48. MS says:

    will the Iphone have a camera/video compatibles as nokia phones etc

  49. I Want to be an Apple Fan Boy says:

    I attended the Brisbane conference for Optus and we were told it would launch very soon. Didn’t mention they have stock of it though, but I cannot wait!!! Very excited.

  50. eye4detail says:

    In my crystal ball I see not 1 but 2 iPhone models. A crowd pleasing ‘nano’ to break the sub $200 price point and a ‘blackberry killer’ model with full video calling for one-up-manship at the office. The clues are everywhere people! Here comes the future, yippee!

  51. sd says:

    WiMacMax has to consider even if IP2 is made in China there are VERY broad quality options from low grade components to higher grade components depending on the (in this case) Apples specs, I cannot see Apple risking millions of returns just too save a few bucks, premium pricing…most likely…premium product (including components)…almost certain. They (Apple) are not stupid enough to risk it all by releasing sub standard product. We will have to wait a little longer her in New Zealand but look forward to replacing my HTC Mogul :-)

  52. mac chic says:

    None of these posts are true. Nobody from a 3rd party group would have access to such info…All false

  53. Stephen says:

    The IPhone hype makes me want to puke.

    Anti-MS is now a mindless cult where Apple can do no wrong. Problem is, Apple won’t give you Blu Ray on your Mac, forces the “open” SDK developers to sell only through their store, toots their horn about Google Maps which is on many other phones, and has repeatedly screwed their own customers on pricing and availability melees. Even better, you can only use AT&T (officially) in the US- all about optimizing Apple profits and controlling the money stream tighter than MS ever did…

    It’s just a phone! Get a life and maybe go out and meet some people, ride a bike, read a book, have a drink!

  54. San Ramon AT&T Employee says:

    the iphone will indeed be subsidized, making the cost on launch ~$200.

    as a corporate employee, were entitled to a 10% discount

  55. KYJurisDoctor says:

    Anyone know how I can get my hands on one CHEAP?

  56. Habb says:

    The real box is the one inside!!! I have seen a real photo of it here: http://hajix.com/apple-iphone-
    But if it is in other colores… are they going to be out at once??

  57. SIMPLY PUT says:

    GUYS CALM DOWN-IT’S JUST A RUMOR SITE AND YOU PEOPLE ARE SALIVATING OVER A PHONE!YES I AM EXCITED AS WELL, BUT GO OUT AND SMELL THE FLOWERS OR SOMETHING INSTEAD OF BREAKING THIS GUYS BALLS OVER WHAT WILL BE REVEALED MONDAY.

  58. Russ says:

    I’m new to Apple and of course new to this site (which is wonderfully refreshing) I’m a little like a religious convert I guess as I suffered Windows with all it’s warts for years. Vista was the straw…. and since making the switch to a mac, I actually enjoy using a computer again. Shopping for it was an enjoyable experience as well. Quite a change from buying a PC. I suspect that buying an iPhone is going to be pleasant too.

  59. Mark says:

    Looks like this tipster was the real deal!

  60. xaris says:

    about the camera ??? how mutch Mega Pixel have ?

  61. leigh says:

    Leander: I wonder if anyone is gonna give you credit for being spot on?

  62. james braselton says:

    Hi. There. I. Have. Used. Up. All. 300. Rechrges. On. My. iPhone. And. Becase. It. Will. Cost. $115.00. I. Am. Geting. A. Sprint. Instinct. Instead. Became. A samsung. Sprint instinct. Bateries. Are. $30.00. And. I. Can. Have. More. Then. 1. Battery. Too. I can. Change. The. Batery. My. Self. On. The. Instinct. Too. Have. Live tv. Games. Voice. To. Action. Buton. Too. Records. Video. Also. Has. A. Bright. 3.1. Inch. Touch. Screen. I. Played. With. A. Instinct. Last. Thursday. It. Was. Brighter. Then. My. iPhone. Too.

  63. zen says:

    how about the videoconferene?.

  64. charli says:

    hey james, i’m curious. when you bought your iphone did you shell out the extra $70 to extend the warranty. or did you do it sometime before your year was up. and if you did, did you take it to an apple store and did they tell you that the battery wasn’t covered. cause I would think that it might be and if you had spent the money they would have just replaced it and saved you cancelling an ATT contract (which probably cost you some kind of penalty since you signed for 2 years and the iphone hasn’t be out that long), signing up with Sprint etc. not to mention that Sprint’s coverage is no better than ATT and might still be worse.

    and it is interesting to go back and look at the various preannouncement comments now that the phone has been on sale for a month. some folks were dead on and some were not.

  65. amiasmacy says:

    Brilliant review the phone really looks stylish and much slimmer and inbuilt features and function provided it’s quite impressive and customer to love to purchase out such phones..

    fleet tracking

  66. dealsbells says:

    Apple does not permit it with the current iPhone and they won’t permit it and said it will soon new.They. Here is my assumption, it will be after June 9. They also made clear that they have it in their warehouse inStock prepared in the market, and they are prepared to be in stores soon collapse.
    vistaprint coupons

  67. hareydouglas says:

    Everything such as the Apple iPhone. Great, but limited. Microsoft Windows or the “program” is almost as fantastic, but it can not be everything. Apple allows you to use and up to (our) product you want us to wake up. Do not make this so difficult. Life should be easy. PS Mark Brisbane Australia is a very nice device.

    Womens Casual Tops

  68. moleremovalguides says:

    Optus said to us that any 3G iPhone will be released with them. And said it would be very soon. My assumption here is that it will be after June 9. They also made clear that they have in stock at their warehouse ready for sale, and for us to be ready to get smashed in the shop very soon.