As previously reported, Apple is slated to reveal something on or around October 4. Current Apple board member and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore recently said that the company’s “new iPhones” (note the plural) will debut in October. Prior to that, rumors and “insider reports” have pointed to a new iPod Touch, a cloud-based iPhone 4S and the much-speculated iPhone 5 to be revealed at any day.
Now actual products are starting to appear on the market. Reports claim that AT&T corporate stores are currently receiving refreshed iPhone cases provided by Speck and OtterBox, one of which clearly reads “iPhone 4S” on the package. So far there have been no reports of potential iPhone 5 cases arriving as well.
According to images of the case offered by Speck, there’s a new, enlarged hole for the camera, reportedly to compensate for the LED flash. Other than that, the case shows no additional changes over the regular iPhone 4 version, and doesn’t even sport any visual ties to the rumored 4S model.
Well, since Samsung couldn’t get an early peek at the iPhone 5 and iPad 3, the company has simply decided to take a page from Apple’s playbook. A senior exec told The Korea Times it plans to file a request to block the sale of the upcoming iOS handset in its Korean homeland the moment the device is announced. According to the Times, the anonymous exec said it would leverage its wireless technology patents and demand that Apple either remove the telecommunications features — turning the iPhone into an iPod touch — or simply be banished from the Korean market. The knock-down-drag-out war between the two companies has only seemed to escalate in recent weeks, as Sammy has taken a much more combative and offensive approach. We can only hope the two get tired of divvying up the globe and declare a draw in this game of patent Risk.
With September in full swing, it’s getting to the point where we’re all looking at our watches and wondering when Apple is going to announce the iPhone 5. The rumor mill has had the launch of the device pegged for October, with an announcement supposedly scheduled for mid- to late-September, for months. Apple routinely has an iPod event in September, so many expect an iPhone 5 to be shown off too, but the company hasn’t announced any such event yet. However, despite the month of September passing rapidly with no mention of a new iPhone from Apple, evidence to suggest there will be a new Apple smartphone continues to mount.
Boy Genius Report reports that accessory and case maker Case-Mate yesterday posted a page to its website with six different iPhone 5 case designs. The page was pulled pretty quickly (not before someone nabbed the photos), but it’s led to speculation that the iPhone 5 will feature significant design changes when compared to the iPhone 4. The cases show a curved silver back to the phone, suggesting that Apple has decided to ditch the glass backing and it had adopted for the iPhone 4.Case-Mates’s iPhone 5/iPhone 4S page now carries a message that says the new iPhone(s) will arrive soon and when that happens, the company will be ready.
Judging from the covert screenshot you see above, it most certainly seems like a legit shot. A tipster tipped Engadget this very convincing screenshot, from AT&T’s internal system, listing the “iPhone 4s White” beneath a handful of already familiar Apple handsets. Could it be? Is Cupertino actually planning on bringing a white version of its next iPhone out at launch? Only time will tell, which is only about a month’s time anyway.
A new iPhone is coming, and it’s overdue. It must be close, though, as there are lots of hardware leaks that appear to be related to an unreleased iPhone product. We suspect that these leaks come from component manufacturers in China, though hopefully no Foxconn workers get into trouble this time around.
MacPost shows an N94 casing in both black and white, with the latter link having pictures to many other components. MacRumors has what looks like a redesigned external antenna for a future iPhone.
While the leaked components look very much like an iPhone 4, leaked cases indicate that the next iPhone could be a thinner, but bigger device to accommodate a bigger screen.
As is always the case, there’s no way to verify whether these parts are made for Apple, or just for an elaborate copycat device. Even if they are meant for an iPhone, rumors suggest that Apple could be making an iPhone 4S entry-level device that will complement the higher-end iPhone 5.
With the launch of the iPhone 5 supposedly just around the corner, one of the biggest rumors going is that Sprint will finally be getting the iPhone. However, the latest is that T-Mobile will also be getting the latest iteration of the iPhone. Not only that, but the network might actually be the first to get iPhone 5.
Tech guru Robert Scoble on Sunday posted an interesting comment to social networking site Google+. Scoble reported that a friend spoke to a T-Mobile customer support rep who confirmed that the company would be getting the iPhone 5 and that it would be available from September 25. The rep also said that they have been in training for weeks already.
“T-Mobile getting ready for iPhone 5? A friend of mine was just on the phone with one of the customer support reps and he got him to tell him what’s up (very strange, I know, but TMobile employees might not know that’s a no-no). The rep said that the company will be the first to get iPhone 5, coming September 25, and that they have been in training for weeks for this. Anyone else hear this?”
Of course, it’s entirely possible that the T-Mobile representative Scoble’s friend spoke to was bluffing, just for the sake of it. Still, with the phone already available on Verizon and AT&T and Sprint rumored to be joining them soon, it would make sense for Apple to expand to include T-Mobile.
Neither T-Mobile nor Apple have commented on the story. It’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out.
Whether or not you believe that there’s another lost iPhone prototype out there, the news has people talking. In fact, it’s even got late night show host Conan O’Brien talking… and producing a mock ad in Apple’s style over it.
It’s not unusual for photos from new or unreleased cell phones that aren’t on the market to crop up online from time to time. Usually, said photos will do nothing more than betray some of the camera specs of said phone. Still, it’s pretty exciting when something as small as a photograph can confirm the existence of an otherwise unconfirmed device. Case in point: the picture below is rumored to be the first shot from the much-rumored iPhone 5.
Though to be launching in September/October, the iPhone 5 has not yet been confirmed by Apple. However, Pocket-Now has come across a photo that it thinks may have been taken on the next iPhone. PN’s Evan Blass writes that though the photo claims to have been taken by an iPhone 4, the rest of its EXIF data throws that claim into uncertain light.
“Although the image has been cropped to 2235×2291 (5.12 megapixels), the original picture was a much larger 3264×2448 — or just shy of eight megapixels,” Blass writes. “What’s more, the lens was recorded as a 4.3mm f/2.4, which is closer to that of a point-and-shoot than the iPhone 4′s actual 3.85mm f/2.8.”
Blass goes on to admit that this could have been faked (it’s apparently happened before), but lending weight to the theory that this is from the new iPhone is the fact that it’s supposedly a photo of an Apple engineer’s lunch and it was taken on the Apple campus.
Earlier this week, CNet caused quite the splash when it exclusively revealed that Apple had lost yet another iPhone prototype in a bar in San Francisco. The site’s source said that the phone had been lost at a tequila bar named Cava 22 and that Apple had contacted police, desperate to recover the device. However, while the CNet report did say that SF police had said no police report had been filed, it seems other details of the story are now being thrown into question thanks to statements from the SFPD.
The original CNet story reported that Apple had contacted police regarding the phone and company personnel had accompanied the police to a house in Bernal Heights. According to the story, this house was searched, with permission from the owner, by police. However, SFPD spokesman Officer Albie Esparza told SF Weekly that standard procedure would mean there would be a record if that had happened but there are no records to suggest any such activity. Furthermore, SF Weekly cites Esparza as saying he relayed this information to CNet’s Declan McCullagh weeks ago.
CNet says its source is ‘familiar with the investigation’ but has not commented on Officer Albie Esparza’s remarks to SF Weekly. The site has also not offered any explanation as to why it ran the story when it was supposedly told ‘weeks ago’ that there was no police records to support McDullagh’s source’s story. CNet’s source is likely a trusted one (it would have to be for the site to run the story with no evidence from SFPD). However, it’s possible the source’s own information was bad. Another theory is that the whole thing was cooked up by Apple in an effort to drum up some excitement for the rumored upcoming launch of iPhone 5. Hey, anything is possible, right?
The iPhone 5 rumors have been at a constant flow over the last few weeks but it’s been a while since we heard anything about an iPhone Nano. The so-called iPhone Nano, a smaller, cheaper iPhone, has been rumored for years. However, if the latest scuttlebutt is to be believed, a cheaper iPhone is coming in a matter weeks.
Reuters today cites two sources with knowledge of the matter that say Apple’s Asian suppliers have begun manufacturing a cheaper iPhone with just 8GB of flash storage. One of the sources went on to say that the supplier of the flash drives was a Korean company, leading to speculation that it could be South Korea-based Samsung, which is already an Apple supplier.
The news follows June predictions from Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore. Whitmore made headlines around the world when he predicted that Apple would launch not one but two iPhones this fall. The Deutsche Bank analyst said that Apple would release an iPhone 4S to go along with the iPhone 5. With the news that the iPhone 3GS is now free on a two-year contract (down from $49.99), the Reuters report has sparked reports that this new, cheaper iPhone 4 will replace the 3GS in its $49.99 price point.
Apple is widely rumored to be launching a new iPhone at the end of September with release scheduled for early October. The company let its usual iPhone refresh date (June’s WWDC) go by without making any mention of upcoming plans to launch a new iPhone.
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