• Apple Preparing Thinner and Lighter iPhone 5 to Launch This Fall

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Cloud, Featured, Gadgets, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves, Rumors, Tech. 3 Responses

    Citing a new report from WSJ today indicates that Apple is indeed gearing up with a new iPhone for a launch this fall, with an initial production target of 25 million units through the end of the year.

    “Apple’s sales estimates of the new iPhone is quite aggressive. It told us to prepare to help the company meet its goal of 25 million units by the end of the year,” said another person at one of Apple’s suppliers. “The initial production volume will be a few million units… we were told to ship the components to assembler Hon Hai in August.”

    The various iPhone 5 rumors have been going back and forth on whether or not a significant redesign is coming, but the new report seems to suggest that iPhone 5 will have a completely redesigned case after all:

    According to some suppliers of components to Apple, the new version of the iPhone is expected to be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4 and sport an 8-megapixel camera. One person said the new iPhone will operate on Qualcomm Inc.’s wireless baseband chips.

    Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn/Hon Hai is said to be having difficulties with the new device due to it being “complicated and difficult to assemble.“

    Two of the people, however, cautioned that shipments of the new iPhone could be delayed if Hon Hai can’t improve its yield rate as the new iPhone is “complicated and difficult to assemble.”

    Reports over the past few months have been pointing to a September release for the next-generation iPhone, carrying Apple’s A5 processor with an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a Qualcomm baseband chip for both GSM and CDMA networks. iOS 5 and iCloud are also to be released this fall as well.

  • Apple Testing iPhone For T-Mobile With A5 Processor

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Gadgets, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves, Rumors No Responses

    A bunch of photos surfaced recently by BGR shows an unreleased white iPhone 4 device running on T-Mobile USA network. It looks like an iPhone 4, although, the proximity sensor looks different than the one shown in the final white iPhone 4 that’s been already sold in the UK. The device is running an old and internal test version of iOS 4, confirmed by the several Apple internal and field-testing applications like Radar and Apple Connect or the preference panels to measure the performances of the device.

    That’s right, you’re looking at photos of an iPhone prototype with T-Mobile USA 3G bands. The actual internal model is N94, and if you remember, the Verizon model is N92 while the standard GSM variant is N90. We have verified that the phone itself is running a test version of Apple’s iOS, much like the one we saw in those videos from Vietnam, and it includes internal Apple test apps like Radar and Apple’s employee directory app. Additionally, the front of the white iPhone pictured looks a little different from the photos of the retail white iPhone 4 that surfaced recently — specifically, the proximity sensor has changed on the retail version.

    The model number of this iPhone 4 is N94, its related to the A5 chip — which is implemented on the iPad 2. Remember that there is the prototype iPhone with an A5 processor that game developers are using to prepare their iPhone 5 apps. That sounds a lot like this phone. The only question now is if that is a prototype ’4S’ or ’5′.

  • iPhone 5 to Feature 3.7-inch Screen, Larger Capacitive Home Button, Tapered Design?

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Gadgets, iPhone, Rants & Raves, Rumors, Tech. 1 Response

    Apple may be prototyping an iPhone 5 with a tapered design, a larger 3.7-inch screen and a gesture-sensitive Home Button.

    This is according to the ex-Engadget crew at the new “This my Next” website, who whipped up the mockup above to illustrate the various rumors they’re hearing.

    • New design: Apple is testing several prototypes and one of the leading candidates for the iPhone 5 is thinner than the current iPhone 4 and looks “more like the iPod touch.” It has a teardrop shape – thinner at the bottom than the top, like the new MacBook Air.
    • Gesture-sensitive Home Button: The Home Button will be bigger and will understand a gestures. “Our sources say that gestures are definitely coming in a future version of iOS,” says
    • Larger screen: the screen will go up to 3.7-inches, not 4-inches as rumored. It will keep the current resolution, dropping pixel density goes from 326 to 312, but will still be a Retina Display (it’s still above 300ppi).
    • No Bezel: Screen will be edge-to-edge, occupying the entire front of the iPhone. That means no bezel (or almost no bezel).
    • Hidden earpiece & mouthpiece: The earpiece and sensors are behind the screen itself.
    • Inductive charging: It may or may not have wireless inductive charging. Crystal ball is cloudy.
    • NFC: Likewise it may or may not have NFC.
    • Global radio chips: It’ll be based on Qualcomm’s dual GSM/CDMA Gobi chipset, which means it’ll work on a ton of GSM and CDMA networks worldwide, most importantly in China.

    Joshua Topolsky warns, however, that none of this is set in stone:

    Now, keep in mind that this info isn’t fact — we’re getting lots of threads from lots of places and trying to make sense of the noise. The versions of devices our sources are seeing could be design prototypes and not production-ready phones. Still, there are strong indications that Apple will surprise a public that’s expecting a bump more along the lines of the 3G to 3GS — and this is some insight into where those designs might be headed. We’re working on a couple of other intriguing pieces of information concerning future Apple products… so stay tuned for much, much more.

    [grouped by: cultofmac]

  • iPhone 5 to Start Production in July, to Ship in September

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, iPhone, News, Rants & Raves, Rumors 1 Response

    Reuters reports that the iPhone 5 will begin production in July and ramp up for a September release. Apple typically holds a fall media event at the beginning of September to showcase its iPods. This would be the perfect place to showcase their new iPhone as well.

    The new smartphone will have a faster processor but will look largely similar to the current iPhone 4, one of the people said. They declined to be identified because the plans were not yet public.

    The companies would begin production either in July or August before shipping components to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, flagship of Foxconn Technology Group, for assembly, they said.

    The next-generation iPhone is rumored to include the dual-core A5 processor and enhanced graphics as the one found in the iPad 2, possibly 64 GB of storage, a larger screen, a metal back, and new cloud-based functionality through Apple’s upcoming iOS 5. The upcoming WWDC Event Apple will probably be introducing iOS 5.