Is this the Dock Connector for the iPhone 5 with its viscera hanging loose? Taiwanese site Apple.pro certainly thinks so, and as the guys who first posted pictures of the touchscreen to the new iPod Nano, they’ve got a decent history of getting their hands on parts of unannounced Apple products. So maybe!
The new Dock Connector is slightly narrower than the part found in the current iPhone, and is part number 821-1300-02, compared to 821-1281-A for the Verizon iPhone. It certainly looks legit, even if it doesn’t tell us much except that the next iPhone will be a smidge thinner.
This is awesome: an iPhone 5 front panel that its leakers swear confirms that the next generation of Apple’s handset will have a larger, 4-inch display. Of course, who could tell without any point of reference?
This is either the most inept leak ever, or one of the best gags of the week. They should do a whole series of these leaks: the large iPhone 5 display next to, say, an equally “large” radioactive ant, or the world’s longest index finger.
To be fair, it does seem to confirm the iPhone 5 might have a thinner bezel at the sides…. but with the iPhone 5 still months away, this might just be an idea Apple’s toying with.
Over at The Loop, Jim Dalrymple is contradicting today’s reports that both the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 might be delayed by three months each, saying that both products are “on schedule” according to his own sources.
Of course, what “on schedule” means depends on where you’re sitting. They still might ship three months later than expected.
Earlier today, we reported that the iPad 2 might be delayed until June because of production bottlenecks, but noted our skepticism of the report, saying Apple wouldn’t release the iPad 2 and the iPhone 5 in the same month.
A mere hour later, Business Insider is now reporting that the iPhone 5 might not launch until September, citing a note from FBR Capital Markets analyst Craig Berger.
Berger writes, “”For the iPhone 5, we continue to hear that a July launch is unlikely, with various casing suppliers and touch suppliers still ramping up, with some chip vendors not having yet received firm iPhone 5 orders, and with other sockets like the image sensor (most likely going to Omnivision exclusively, but with some potential for Sony to split that socket) still in flux. Given these factors, we think a September launch is more likely, off from Apple’s traditional iPhone launch schedule, but giving the firm more time to enhance its next-generation instant communications on the phone.”
If true, this would allow the iPad 2 to occupy the iPhone’s previous launch spot of September, possibly pushing the iPod Touch back into November or December… as well as give early Verizon iPhone 4 adopters three months less reason to kick themselves when their hot new phone is made obsolete.
Nine months in, Apple still hasn’t managed to ship the elusive white iPhone 4. A problem with the painting process on the white glass plate causes light to leak onto the camera sensor, washing out images. At this point, you’d think Apple would just give up and move on, but the white iPhone 5 is the Moby Dick to Steve Jobs’ cantankerous, turtlenecked Ahab. We’re in the realm of obsession here.
None the less, a brief note over at Digitimes says that Apple is already looking towards the future of pastiness, and have just signed Wintek to be the sole touch panel supply for all white iPhone 5s.
I suppose the comfort in all this is that, given what a debacle the white iPhone 4 has been, you can bet on the fact that Apple will have the white iPhone 5 perfected as a point of pride at launch.
Omnivision, the company that makes the camera in your iPhone, have just outed their second-generation backside illuminated sensor, the OV8830, and it’s a pretty exciting product for Apple fans: it should give the iPhone 5 the ability to record 1080p video at thirty frames per second, as well as substantially improve image quality.
A Taiwanese Mac rumor site with a sometimes-accurate history of predictions is now claiming that Cupertino is testing three radically different prototypes of the next iPhone.
The first prototype is allegedly a Blackberry-like iPhone 5, boasting a slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard for faster typing. Ostensibly, such a device would be aimed at business users and texters.
The second prototype? Just a spec bump, making the iPhone 5 the equivalent of the iPhone 3Gs to the iPhone 4’s iPhone 3G. The design would closely resemble the existing iPhone 4, merely upping battery capacity and the megapixels on the rear camera. Presumably, it would also upgrade the iPhone line to the rumored dual-core A5 CPU which will debut next month with the iPad 2.
Of the third prototype, nothing is known, but it may be the 4-inch iPhone 5 we posted about earlier today.
If you’ve ever seen a friend’s Android phone and marveled at just how big it was compared to your iPhone, Digitimes thinks you should start getting used to the bulk: they claim that Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone will pack a 4-inch display to directly compete with Android’s larger displays.
It’s a curious rumor. If true, it would make the iPhone 5 the same footprint as Samsung’s Galaxy S and Nexus S smartphones.
Mark your calendars: the next iPhone will be revealed sometime between June 5th and June 9th, 2011, as Apple has already booked those dates at the Moscone Center in San Francisco for this year’s WWDC.
Although the Moscone Center’s website officially lists the early June event name as a “Corporate Meeting,” this anonymous description is usually deployed by Moscone Center management to refer to Apple events.
Apple’s next iPhone is traditionally announced at each year’s WWDC event held at the Moscone Center sometime in June.
Everyone knows that Apple will be refreshing the iPhone hardware this summer. But the big question about today’s Verizon launch is whether that carrier will get new hardware in less than six months. It seems likely. Apple is strongly rumored to be working on a dual-mode handset that works on both GSM and CDMA networks. But where does that leave VZW’s early adopters? How are they going to feel about buying a device made obsolete in a few months?
The New York Times columnist David Pogue asked Apple these questions. Here’s what Apple said:
Apple won’t say if there will be an iPhone 5 for Verizon this summer. (“Let’s put it this way: We’re not stupid,” is all an Apple rep would say.) But if it does, and you buy an iPhone 4 now, you’ll be stuck with an outdated phone in only five months.
To me, this reads like a tacit admission that the iPhone 5 will launch on Verizon and AT&T simultaneously this summer. Obviously Apple won’t pre-announce the iPhone 5 on VZW because no one that network will buy the iPhone 4 today.
