By the time the iPhone 5 is released, either in the Summer or fall of 2012, it will have been a two-year wait for the tech community. Will the iPhone 5 live up to expectations in the New Year?
Unless the Mayans are right and 2012 marks the end of the world, 2012 should be the year of the iPhone 5.
By the time its announcement and release comes around — which will ostensibly be either in the early Summer or late Fall of the new year — we all will have waited more or less two years since the release of the iPhone 4 for this highly touted device. Just to put it into perspective, the iPhone 5 News Blog was the first blog to cover the rumors of the iPhone 5, and we got our start on August 6th, 2010.
Throughout the course of that span of time, we’ve reported on virtually every rumor, speculation, and angle regarding the iPhone 5, to the point where we are now seeing rumors from 1 1/2 years ago coming back around (such as the rumor of a built-in rubber bumper for the iPhone 5, which was recently reported on by BGR and originally suggested in 2010). This recycling of absurd iPhone 5 rumors only proves that the device’s emergence is long overdue; there is seemingly nothing left to say about it feature-wise that hasn’t already been said.
Reflecting back over the past year alone, it’s interesting to consider what the iPhone 5 has become. In many ways — and by virtue of blogs like this one — it has really transcended that of a mere gadget — it is now part of some heralded “Apple mythology” or lore, with all the stories of Steve Jobs’ own legacy bound up in it. You can argue that no other product in history has ever been anticipated on the scale that the iPhone 5 is: most landmark inventions, like the light bulb, took the world by surprise to some extent. For the iPhone 5, more has been written about it in the abstract than all other smartphones combined.
And because of this, Apple now stands on a precipice. They have to deliver the goods with the iPhone 5 in 2012, or face widespread disappointment from their customers. In many ways, the future of Apple depends on it. Somehow, they have to cram LTE, the A6 chip, a better battery, a new iOS, and a bigger screen into a new form factor that is not Android-like . . . and thinner.
Those are the expectations — quite a list, huh?
That’s why all of the building iPhone 5 buzz is both a blessing and a curse for Apple. The blessing comes in the form of unbridled hype and publicity for a product they have yet to produce — that is a marketing department’s dream. But with it comes what seems to be an unsurmountable list of expectations. Users are looking for more than a quirky gadget. They are looking for a mobile device that will revolutionize their life. That’s a tall order.
But if any technology company is in a position to deliver on such a tall order, its Apple. Let’s hope the legacy of excellence and ingenuity that Steve Jobs fostered at Cupertino carries into this year and yields an iPhone 5 that lives up to all the hype that we, the people, have created.
Thanks to everyone who followed the iPhone 5 news here at the blog throughout 2011. We look forward to another fun year of iPhone 5 speculation and anticipation in 2012. Happy New Year, iPhone 5′ers!
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