A photo of what is supposedly a next-generation iPad 3 display has surfaced on a Korean forum. The pic in question was tipped to MacRumors and has been making the rounds this afternoon.
The alleged iPad 3 display doesn’t tell us much of anything at all, other than the slight difference in cabling arrangement at the bottom of the panel.
A questionable report was making the rounds this morning from Taiwan-based publication Digitimes saying that Apple was planning to introduce two new iPads at the Macworld|iWorld conference on January 26th, 2012. The models were said to be targeted for the low-end and high-end consumer markets.
We voiced skepticism about this rumor (which also claimed that the iPad 3 would feature double the battery life and a higher-quality display), and now the Digitimes report has been debunked.
Wow! 2011 has been one of the most interesting years in recent memory for Apple Inc. Of course the death of Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, stands out as one of the most important events of the year for Apple, but there have been a load of other stories too that have made 2011 a very memorable year for the fruit company. From one controversy to the next, to record-breaking earnings, and new products, Apple has plowed through 2011 with a steady determination to be the best technology company on the planet. Only one device underwent a redesign (the iPad), while other form factors stayed the same. Instead of focusing on making pivotal leaps forward with hardware, Apple’s main focus of 2011 was to fortify their strong foundation in the software game.
Here’s Cult of Mac’s look back on the Apple in the year 2011.
With rumors of a standalone Apple television set ramping up, Digitimes is reporting that Apple has told suppliers to begin prepping for the manufacturing of an Apple TV set in the first business quarter of 2012, with an expected release in the fall.
The TVs in question will only be available in 32-inch and 37-inch flavors initially, according to the report. Rumors have suggested that Apple will eventually abandon the current Apple TV set-top box and focus on an integrated solution with its own television hardware.
The Wall Street Journal has shed light on Apple’s plans for entering the TV industry. According to the WSJ, Apple is planning to reinvent not only the television itself, but the way we consume media every day.
Apple has been working on its top-secret TV project for quite some time. While the project is still in its early stages, all signs point towards Apple destroying and rebuilding the traditional way we watch movies and TV shows. The company wants to implement a unified experience that extends to the living room.
With Apple expected to release its successor to the iPad 2 in early-2012, alleged iPad 3 parts have leaked out into the wild. The parts suggest that Apple is ready to introduce a revolutionary new design for its upcoming tablet, as the device’s internals appear to be arranged way differently.
The iPad 3’s dock connector and ribbon cable leaked a couple months ago. These new microphone parts are currently available for purchase from a Chinese retailer.
According to Japanese Mac blog Macotakara, the iPad 3 will be backwards compatible with current Smart Covers, despite the fact that it will be so thick as to not work with iPad 2 cases.
Macotakara claims that they don’t know the reason the iPad 3 will be thicker than the iPad 2, but we do: it’s necessary in order to install the twin-light system needed to lluminate the iPad 3’s Retina Display.
As for the image above, your guess is as good as ours. Macotakara seems to think it somehow relates to an iPad 3, so maybe it’s the unbranded aluminum back panel of one or something? As for the Smart Cover backwards compatibility, considering that all that is necessary to keep a Smart Cover on are magnets in the right places, I wouldn’t be surprised if Smart Covers continued to be backwards compatible for future iPads for many generations to come.
In the latest report regarding Apple’s future adoption of LTE/4G for its mobile devices, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo is allegedly set to release a 4G-equipped iPad in the summer of 2012. An LTE-equppied iPhone is then set to premiere in the fall of next year.
We’ve been hearing whispers about a 4G/LTE-flavored iPhone for quite some time, and Macotakara is relaying that Apple has been in talks with carriers about making 4G a reality for its next-generation devices.
Insider sources are telling The Daily that Microsoft is planning to bring its Office suite to the App Store. Specifically, the Redmond company has an Office business app for the iPad in the pipeline.
Apple offers its own iWork productivity suite on iOS, including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Microsoft apparently wants a piece of the word processing action, and its sights are set on Office for the iPad.
With rumors suggesting that Apple is preparing to take on the TV market, we all wait with bated breath for what Apple has in store for our living rooms.
Thanks to a finding in the newly-released iOS 5.1 beta, a next generation Apple TV is one step closer to reality. The device has been given the “J33” codename internally by Apple.
Apple’s series of heated lawsuits with Samsung have put the two companies at odds, and Apple has been reportedly looking to other suppliers for hi-res displays. Specifically, Apple now has Sharp on deck to supply screens for the upcoming iPad 3.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is adding Sharp to its roster of screen suppliers for the next-generation iPad. The displays will allegedly be of higher resolution and thinner than the screens found in previous generations.
Business Insider claims to have information on an iPhone 5 prototype from a source that “spent about two weeks” with the device. Citing several details about the alleged prototype, the source says that Apple ended up ditching the iPhone 5 at the last minute. Instead, the iPhone 4S was released as an incremental update to the product line.
While even Business Insider notes that its source has not been completely verified, the provided details do stack up nicely with the rumors we were all hearing leading up the iPhone 4S announcement.
Someone fell down the rabbit hole, returning with a whopper of a rumor. The iPhone 4S – you know, the Apple handset that’s been flying off shelves and setting record pre-sales – is actually a dog. Seems Apple is having a hard time getting rid of these things and has told suppliers to back the truck up – like into next year.
The only problem with this rumor? It’s total bunk, says a prominent Apple analyst.
This weekend broke news that Apple was already hard at work on OS X 10.8, so it would be natural to assume that in the next version of OS X, Cupertino will bring even more iOS functionality to their desktop operating system: stuff like Airplay and iMessages.
Nope. But don’t be too disappointed. AirPlay and iMessages are reportedly coming to OS X 10.7 Lion, instead.
9to5Mac has dug up a hidden gem in the latest iTunes beta that directly references the iPhone 4S. This is different from all of the other 4S rumors. This time it’s coming directly from Apple itself.
Not only does iTunes beta 9 mention the iPhone 4S, but it also affirms that rumor that Apple’s next smartphone will strongly resemble the iPhone 4 and feature a dual-mode/GSM + CDMA baseband.
Apple rumors are an interesting breed. No other company garners the same level of speculation and anticipation that Apple receives.
The rumor mill is always churning, especially leading up to a major Apple announcement, and sometimes rumors fly so fast that it can be hard to make sense of it all. In case you were wondering, this clever infographic shows how the typical Apple rumor forms over time.
Australian carrier Vodafone has erected a teaser page on its website for the rumored iPhone 5. The webpage features says “End the rumors” and presents a form for customers to receive updates about “this year’s biggest smartphone release.”
This morning we told you about the report that Apple was set to unveil the iPhone 5 at its next media event on October 4th. What the report didn’t address was the iPhone 4S rumor and how the rumors of two new iPhone models fit into the puzzle.
Reportedly, Apple will only unveil one iPhone this year, and it won’t be the mysterious, ‘teardrop’ iPhone 5 that we’ve all been hoping for.
U.K. carrier Vodafone has published a product listing that directly references the iPhone 5 coming in 16GB and 32GB capacities. The upcoming device will allegedly be offered in black and white, with no reference made to the rumored 64GB version.
Carriers have been known to let the cat out of the bag before, so there’s a good chance that Vodafone just squashed the hopes for a 64GB iPhone 5.
Reiterating previous reports that Sprint will be getting the iPhone 5 in the coming weeks, a leaked internal Sprint memo reveals that the carrier is blacking out the first two weeks of October for the “possibility of a major phone launch.”
Sprint employees are not allowed to take vacations between September 30th and October 15th. After all, Sprint will need as many hands on deck as possible to deal with all of its new iPhone customers.
The iPhone 5 is imminent. Apple’s shipping times on the iPhone 4 are already slipping, and according to Cult of Mac’s own release timeline, it’ll be announced as early as September 21st and ship on October 7th.
That gives us a pretty good idea when the iPhone 5 will be released, but that still leaves a lot of questions. How fast will the iPhone 5 be? Will the iPhone 5 support 4G and/or LTE speeds? Will the iPhone 5 have a bigger display?How much storage will the iPhone 5 have? Will the iPhone 5 be a world phone? Will the iPhone 5 have a capacitive home button? And so on.
We think we know. Here’s our best guess based on the rumors so far and what Apple has done in the past exactly what the iPhone 5 will look like once it is released.
While the industry eagerly awaits Apple next’s media event, AppleNApps has dusted off the rumor that Apple will introduce a 3G iPod touch this Fall to compete with the prepaid market. Although a cheap, data-based, VoIP-intensive iPhone would definitely shake up the prepaid niche, such a product would also define a new category of mobile handsets — and that’s something that Apple has been known to do.
Best Buy is expecting pre-sales of the iPhone 5 to begin in the first week of October, a leaked internal document from the retail giant reveals. In addition, the document says Apple’s eagerly-awaited handset is coming to the Sprint network.
With the announcement of the iPhone 5 and a potential second model on the horizon, analysts are predicting a strong holiday season for Apple. In fact, Apple could make up to 22 million iPhone units in Q4 of 2011 alone, with the iPhone 4 oddly enough still accounting for the majority of sales.
Rumors of Apple releasing an iPad 3 in early 2012, or even later this year, have been circulating recently, and now a new report suggests that Apple won’t be able to ship a new iPad based on the A6 processor until June of 2012.
