Apple is already in trial production of a budget-friendly iPhone with mass production set to begin in a couple of weeks, according to supply-chain insiders.
Rumors of either an iPhone SE2 or iPhone 9 have been swirling for months with an unveiling likely in March.
Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner has been welcomed as a “major step forward” by Biometrics expert Philip Smith, whose company pioneered the technology a decade ago.
“It’s a huge milestone in bringing fingerprint-based biometrics to the mainstream,” he said. “I’m thrilled to see this.”
Of course a biometrics would welcome an advance like this. But Touch ID has already set off a firestorm of controversy among privacy advocates who say there could be lots of Big Brother implications, especially following revelations by Der Spiegel Online that the N.S.A. already has the ability to capture photos, GPS data, contacts and texts from iPhones.
Apple has all but confirmed it will be announcing the iPhone 5 on September 12, and if recent rumors are correct, it’ll start shipping around a week and a half later. But according to a leaked training manual produced by Sprint, Apple’s next-generation iPhone may not be making its debut until at least October 15, or it’ll be launching with different carriers at different times in the U.S.
That’s if this training document actually means anything. And we don’t think it does.
If you’re a T-Mobile customer who was hoping that the iPhone 5 would be the first iPhone to gain official support for your carrier, then look away now. A leaked T-Mobile memo reveals the company is instructing its staff to sell “against the iPhone” from September 21, and it looks like they’ll be trained to help customers choose alternative smartphones instead.
Earlier today, U.K. communications regulator Ofcom gave Everything Everywhere — the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile — approval to rollout out the country’s first 4G network from September 11. Within hours of that announcement comes a new report that claims Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 will be one of the first smartphones to take advantage of it, possibly handing Everything Everything an “exclusive” as the U.K.’s only 4G carrier compatible with the iPhone.
Apple parody commercials are nothing new, but this is the first I’ve seen for the upcoming iPhone 5. According to video artist and creator Adam Sacks, Apple’s next iPhone will be perfectly suited to those who feel the need to take pictures of their food “to create the illusion of a fulfilling life.”
Production of the 7.85-inch “iPad mini” is expected to ramp up next month, according to sources in Apple’s supply chain, reaching a target of 4 million units per month. Apple hopes to build enough units to launch the device before the end of the year and serve with busy holiday season.
How excited are you for Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone? Could you give up sex to get it two weeks early? According to one survey, one in eleven men would be more than happy to, while 38% would make a “significant sacrifice” to avoid the queues on launch day.
As we edge closer towards the unveiling of Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone next month, component leaks have hit their peak. Last week we showed you images of some of the handset’s internals — including a number of flex cables and a display shield — and today we get our first glimpse at what appears to be the iPhone 5’s logic board.
Sprint has a warehouse full of iPhone 4S units it needs to shift before Apple announces the new iPhone in September, which is great news for consumers. If you don’t plan on picking up the sixth-generation device later this year, you can now grab its predecessor for just $149 with a two-year contract. And if you buy online, Sprint will waive the $36 activation fee, too.
Best Buy is now selling the iPhone 4 — in white and black — for just $49.99 with a two-year service plan on AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint. This is one of the cheapest iPhone 4 deals we’ve seen so far, and it’s expected to last until Apple unveils the new iPhone later this year.
Samsung’s Galaxy S III has gotten off to a great start, and according to one company executive, it has already sold 10 million units. But it’s the upcoming iPhone that the majority of us are waiting for, according to a new survey. Demand for the iPhone 5 is “strikingly higher” that that of any other iPhone, and when smartphone sales hit an all-time high this fall, Apple will be the number one beneficiary.
Sources familiar with Apple’s plans have revealed to Reuters that the company’s “iPhone 5” will launch with a smaller, 19-pin dock connector that will make room for a headphone jack on the bottom of the device. The move will mean that existing iPhone accessories — which use Apple’s existing 30-pin connector — won’t be compatible with the new handset.
The poor working conditions in Foxconn’s Chinese factories have been widely documented for some time now, but the reports have seemingly done very little to dissuade workers from applying for Foxconn jobs.
Thousands have reportedly turned up to the company’s Chengdu and Zhengzhou plants in the hope of securing a “summer job” that is likely to involve the assembly of Apple’s new iPhone, and possibly even an “iPad mini.”
In an effort to make its sixth-generation iPhone slimmer than previous models, Apple will reportedly introduce a new display that features clever “in-cell” touch technology that allows it to become significantly thinner than existing iPhone displays by negating the need for a dedicated digitizer. According to sources for The Wall Street Journal, mass production of these displays has already begun.
We already know that Chinese manufacturers are hard at work producing all kinds of cases for Apple’s new iPhone, a device which isn’t expected to make its public debut for at least another three months. And despite plenty of competition, it seems some of them are more than happy to hand over the specifications they’re using for their products.
According to the drawing you see above, some manufacturers are expecting the sixth-generation iPhone to measure just 7.9mm thin, 58.6mm wide, and 123.8mm tall. That’s 1.4mm thinner and 8.6mm taller than the iPhone 4S.
This time last week we had very little idea of what the new iPhone may look like. Sure, we had rumors and claims that gave us something to go on, but none of them were supported by any evidence. But in the space of just a few days, we’ve seen several front and back panels from a number of different sources, which have today been backed up by what is purported to be a leaked blueprint for the next-generation iPhone.
Almost every tech publication there is has been claiming that the next iPhone will have a 4-inch screen, culminating with the Wall Street Journal‘s report today basically confirming it, but there’s still a lot of debate over how Apple will make the screen larger without bringing on a lot of extra bulk to the device. Should they make it taller? Wider? What about making room for LTE?
Here are 12 cool iPhone 5 concepts that envision what Apple’s next iPhone might look like. If you want to know what we think, though, check out this opinion piece we wrote for Wired on why we think the 4inch iPhone makes a lot of sense.
Many of us are dreaming of a liquidmetal casing for the next iPhone which will sport a tapered, teardrop design that will help make the sixth-generation device thinner than its predecessor. However, a SIM tray that is believed to be destined for the new device suggests it could feature a box-like design similar to the iPhone 4S.
While it may look pretty, Apple’s decision to build the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S almost entirely out of glass means that the handset isn’t really cut out for the dings and drops that our smartphones often have to endure. But the new iPhone could be a whole lot different. Built from liquidmetal, it could be one of the strongest smartphones money can buy.
Apple broke away from its traditional June iPhone unveiling last year, delaying the iPhone 4S announcement until early October instead. The company is widely expected to do the same with the iPhone 5 — likely to be called the “new iPhone” — this year, but according to one Foxconn recruiter, it’ll arrive in June like many of its predecessors.
