New Source Puts iPhone 5 On Track For June Release, 4-Inch Display & No Teardrop Form Factor

An article from 9to5Mac today, purporting to be quoting a Foxconn staffer, indicates much of what the iPhone 5 News Blog reported on months ago: the next iPhone will be the “iPhone 5,” with a release date in June, a 4-inch display, and a thinner, non-teardrop form factor.

If you have continued to follow the rumors here on the iPhone 5 News Blog — even through this current lull in rumor-milling — you’ll note that since just after the release of the iPhone 4S, our own source was told from his sources in Asia that the iPhone 5 would be put back onto the June release schedule, sport a 4-inch screen, and its new form factor would be based on thinness, not a teardrop shape.

It appears that 9to5Mac’s own source is corroborating our own reports from months ago. Seth Weinthrab said today that “We’ve gotten word from a reliable source at Foxconn in China that the iPhone 5, as it is currently being called, is currently being geared for production,” and that the current prototypes floating around Foxconn feature a “4+ inch display (made by LG on at least one of them)” and “No teardrop-shaped devices as were rumored in the lead up to the iPhone 4S. Samples so far have been symmetrical in thickness. Also longer/wider.”

In addition, 9to5Mac also reports that “it would appear that Apple is back on its new iPhone launch for Summer/WWDC pattern that it maintained until last year.”

You will recall that the blog first reported on the new 2012 iPhone rumors back on November 4th, 2011, “Top Source Claims: iPhone 5 To Have ’4-inch Screen and Will Be Announced in June, 2012′″ Just as 9to5Mac notes that their own Asia source was right about the iPhone 4S being a refresh of the iPhone 4, so too was our own source. But their source made that claim on September 21st — our source made his claim on August 22nd.

While I have not doubted our source, there is no doubt that this new 9to5Mac rumor lends even more corroboration to the claims of a larger screen and June release date, and that the teardrop-shaped iPhone 5 form factor rumor was just goofy to begin with.

Thinner Sony Camera Sensor a Perfect Match For Thinner iPhone 5

A thinner iPhone 5 will need thinner components as well. A new, thinner 8MP camera sensor from Sony might be the perfect match for this year’s thinner iPhone iteration.

Over the weekend, we talked about a new report that outlines an Apple patent for a thinner, shapeable rechargeable battery that could empower a thinner yet more powerful iPhone 5 form factor. Today, a new report highlighting Sony’s new, thinner 8MP camera sensor is yet another piece of evidence that Apple may have the hardware necessary to overhaul the iPhone form factor and make the iPhone 5 thinner.

According to 9to5Mac, Sony’s new CMOS image sensor is remarkably thinner than its predecessor: “the new design and manufacturing process behind Sony’s image sensor should help engineer a thinner iPhone due to less space used by the Sony chip. Additionally, the Japanese giant’s new manufacturing process is cheaper and image quality is better, which are both important feats from Apple’s standpoint. The camera module is said to be faster, consume less power and sport higher pixel numbers.”

The 9to5Mac article makes a good point: in order for smartphone designers to continue to make thinner form factors, camera modules need to get thinner as well. This new sensor from Sony would seem to be a perfect fit for a thinner iPhone 5. And considering that this story comes right on the heels of the thinner battery patent report. It will be interesting to see if more reports like these surface in the lead-up to the iPhone 5′s release, as reports of thinner hardware components will serve as reasonably corroborative pieces of evidence of a thinner form factor.

Another interesting tidbit regarding the new Sony camera sensor: not only is it thinner and more power efficient, but it may turn out to be a more powerful 8MP camera than what is currently featured on the iPhone 4S. 9to5Mac points out that: “In theory, the imaging circuitry being separate of the sensors could give Apple greater control over the camera system and help increase its functionality by leveraging the company’s in-house designed A-series chip. The dual-core A5 chip found inside iPhone 4S is already responsible for some image post-processing, such as video stabilization. Therefore, the design of the new Sony chip would let Apple’s silicon take over control of the camera and its performance in ways that were not possible before.”

Will The iPad 3 Foreshadow iPhone 5 Features?

Regardless of when the iPhone 5 launches in 2012, the iPad 3 is bound to debut first. Will its new features foretell what to expect from the iPhone 5, or is the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 bound to grow even farther apart?

If you scan the iPad 3 news these days, then you’re bound to see plenty of promising reports that the third-generation Apple tablet is upon us. Bloomberg is reporting that the iPad 3 is full-on into production and will arrive by March, remaining in step with its usual Springtime release schedule. The critical selling points of the iPad 3 will be in line with what we’ve been hearing about for a long time: “[The iPad 3] will sport a high-definition screen, run a faster processor and work with next-generation wireless networks, according to three people familiar with the product.”

But the big question is, how much information about the iPhone 5 will we be able to glean from the release of the iPad 3 in March? Or, even more interesting, will we see the iPad and iPhone grow farther apart in design this year?

One metric to consider when weighing these questions is the length of time between releases: whereas the iPhone 5 will have essentially been in the making for 2+ years once it is released (or even longer, depending on how long Cupertino has really been R&D’ing it), having been stalled and fretted over by Steve Jobs himself, the iPad 3 will be released according to its now-reliable schedule. For as much as the new iPad 3 features will come as a welcome to tablet users, it would seem that, from a design and production standpoint, even the new innovations for the iPad 3 are obviously not a dramatic leap forward and reasonably implementable.

Based on these two realities, I am imagining that Apple’s two defining mobile devices are growing apart. And if I’m right, it would make sense: if Apple dreams of offering a true ecosphere of products to customers, then the iPad and iPhone need to remain far enough apart for users to see a value in owning both. My three-year-old still refers to my iPhone 4 as a “mini iPad.” While the shared iOS will undoubtedly continue to make the user interface between the two devices the same, form factor and size could most definitely change between the two this year.

We’ll have a better sense once the iPad 3 is released, since we’ll find out if the zany rumors of a sub-9.7-inch iPad come true. PC World considers this possibility in a new article outlining the prevailing iPad 3 rumors, saying, “Another persistent idea is that Apple will produce an iPad “mini” tablet with a 7.85-inch display, à la Amazon’s Kindle Fire. That last possibility seems unlikely, however, because it violates Apple’s vision of a tablet as a device for both content creation and content consumption. Though 8-inch tablets are okay for consumption, they’re not so good for creation.”

I like the thinking here: I don’t think that Apple will move the iPad design closer to the iPhone by making it smaller, but rather might feel quite comfortable in following through with some other rumors that the device might actually grow thicker, thanks to the new LED bar and increased display. In this way, I think that the iPad 3 is becoming more of a crossover between a laptop and mobile media device: almost like the intersection of a Macbook Air and the rumored Apple TV. It will also continue to develop in the business sphere as a productive business tool.

Conversely, the iPhone 5 will move even further into becoming a mobile “life hub;” a device that ties together all of the facets of a user’s life. I’ve often argued that the iPhone is a truly cyborg mobile device — it enhances our bodies and mind. Now, the iPhone 5 will deliver on giving us access to information (Siri and search), media (its high quality rear-facing camera, larger screen, and total access to purchased music and video), communication (telephone, messaging, and front-facing camera), and perhaps even commerce (NFC). And all of these aspects will be enhanced by faster processing, LTE, and (hopefully) a better battery.

So, in this way, I don’t imagine that the iPad 3 will foreshadow the iPhone 5. But I do suspect that what the iPad is not, the iPhone 5 will be.

Crowds Awaiting iPhone 4S Force Delay In China, Riot

The Chinese desperately want the iPhone 4S. But the large, unruly crowd that gathered to get it at Apple’s Beijing store forced police to shut the release down, leading to a riot.

If you think that westerners behave a bit obsessively about Apple gadgets, it’s nothing in comparison to the Chinese. Thirsting for perhaps what is now the crown jewel of pop western culture, a massive crowd queued up outside of Apple’s Beijing superstore on Friday, anticipating the official release of the iPhone 4S in China. Police decided to cancel the iPhone 4S’s release event, however, when it was determined that the crowd had grown too large to manage. The situation broke down from there, with customers hurling eggs and rebuking Apple employees as the police struggled to disperse the crowd.

Given the tension that many eager customers endured throughout the 2011 Summer, waiting in vain for the now mythic iPhone 5, it isn’t difficult to imagine how this situation could have brought would-be Chinese iPhone 4S users to the brink. But truth be told, the Chinese have a long track record of extreme behavior when it comes to Apple products, to the point where one wonders if it is quickly becoming a cultural pastime in China to behave badly in the name of a new Apple release.

Last year, the scene outside of Apple’s Beijing store was curiously similar: on the day that the iPad 2 was to be launched, a near riot was sparked when a scalper budged in line. The ensuing melee injured four and shattered one of the Apple store’s glass doors.

Just think: someone went flying through a glass window in Beijing over an iPad 2.

But China’s brinksmanship when it comes to all things Apple even extends into the macabre: there have been multiple suicides and questionable deaths at Apple’s primary components manufacturer, Foxconn, over the years. One of the most bizarre twists was when Foxconn workers — who, to wit, were working on Xboxes and not iPhones — threatened a mass suicide over a string of layoffs and pay cuts. The Washington Post reports it best: “In May 2011, Foxconn was accused of making its workers sign no-suicide contracts, and Apple issued a statement promising to improve the lives of Foxconn workers. The mass suicide was averted after Foxconn met some of the worker’s demands, but the PR damage had already been done.”

It remains to be seen when Apple will attempt another launch of the iPhone 4S in Beijing, though this story only underscores the difficulties that Apple has faced in trying to wield the lucrative yet unpredictable nature of contemporary China.

iPhone Mania Slumps for the 4S, Anticipating iPhone 5

A new study finds that interest in the iPhone 4S is already showing slight signs of slipping. Could it be because prospective buyers are waiting for the iPhone 5?

There’s no doubt that excitement for the iPhone 5 has slipped over the past few months. Ever since the announcement and release of the iPhone 4S, the interest in the iPhone 5 has been put on the back burner for many tech enthusiasts out there who assumed that the iPhone 5 would be shelved for a year or so.

But now that we’ve turned over a new year — the year in which the iPhone 5 is destined to be released — it may be that iPhone users who skipped the 4S, as well as non-iPhone users who are holding out for the iPhone 5, are gearing up for its eventual release. In an interesting poll reported on by CNET, iPhone demand — while still dramatically high — is beginning to decline: “According to ChangeWave Research, which conducted a survey of 4,000 North American consumers last month, 54 percent of those who plan to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days will choose the iPhone. . . However, demand for Apple’s iPhone is on the decline. Back in September, ChangeWave found that 65 percent of consumers were planning to buy an iPhone by the end of 2011–11 points higher than now.”

CNET reports that the decline in interest for the iPhone is mainly a result of its best Android competitor gaining ground on it in the marketplace: “According to ChangeWave, it’s due mainly to the recently launched Galaxy Nexus. That device, which boasts Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and comes with a 4.65-inch display, is Samsung’s flagship device right now, and arguably the best iPhone competitor the company offers.” I simply do not agree with that finding. While it is easy to imagine that new Android devices are detracting from iPhone interest, it is worth noting that the iPhone 4S is still a very new product in the smartphone market, and it’s flagship feature — Siri — remains unmatched as far as cool, fun, sellable features go.

Instead, I believe that iPhone 4S interest in waning, in anticipation for the possibility of an iPhone 5 being released less than a year after the 4S. We reported on sagging iPhone 4 sales back in the late Spring and early Summer of 2011, due to the sense that the iPhone 5 may be released either at the 2011 WWDC or the end of the Summer. The same may be beginning to happen in 2012 as well: while many tech analysts believe that the iPhone 5 will be released in the Fall of 2012, there are still others who believe that this year’s WWDC is a viable forum for its announcement, and would also realign Apple’s typical iPhone release schedule.

In addition, our own inside source, who was correct in predicting that the 2011 iPhone would be a refresh of the iPhone 4S, has been told by his own inside sources that Apple is planning for a “June 2012 release.”

What to take out of this new poll is not that Apple is losing the smartphone wars to the Galaxy Nexus, but rather that smartphone users in the know are keenly aware that, now that we’re in the year when the iPhone 5 is to be released, it may very well be worth waiting — yet again.

 
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