The iPhone 5 News Blog

It’s just one sentence in a short report from Digitimes, whose batting average as a prognosticator is better than its detractors assert, given the context of the rumors and industry insider scuttlebutt that it largely traffics in. However the Taiwanese cite does bat well below 1,000 in terms of predictive accuracy, and I’m of a mind that Digitimes reporters Daniel Shen and Steve Shen’s comment that “Apple is also expected to release its next-generation iPhone built on Samsung’s Exynos 4 quad-core processor in the second half, heating up competition in the segment” — attributed to the customary unnamed “sources” — is probably a bolder claim than the evidence so far supports.

The contextual argument, that Apple needs to compete with new quad-core powered smartphone competition, some of it already reaching customers and more to come when Qualcomm ramps up volume production of its quad-core integrated platform solutions in the second half of 2012, enabling more vendors to launch quad-core powered handsets.

A complicating factor for Apple will be whether to launch its quad-core A6 CPU in an iPhone, or hold it back as a marquee new feature of the iPad 4 that is widely anticipated for release around March, 2013. I had been persuaded that an iPad4 launch of the A6 CPU has the most logical probity. Read More

Following its practice with the iPhone, Apple opted to carry over its previous iPad 2 model at a reduced price as a category entry-level offering selling alongside the New iPad with Retina display.

However, the “new” iPad 2, which is available only in the base, 16 GB WiFi version at $399.00, isn’t quite the direct carry-over it appears to be, and not in just a trivial way.

The big difference between the original iPad 2 and the “new” iPad 2 is in the processor. While both use A5 dual-core CPUs, the currentlly-sold iPad 2 model uses a new, smaller A5 chip rather than the A5 that powered the original version iPad 2. According to a Chipworks blog report, that previous generation A5, part number APL0498, was manufactured on Samsung Semiconductors’ 45 nm LP CMOS process, while this new A5 processor is manufactured using Samsung’s new 32 nm high-k metal gate, gate first, LP CMOS process technology.

However, the New (Retina) iPad’s A5X is still made using the an older 45-nanometer process. That means the entry-level iPad 2 is currently equipped with the most advanced Apple A-Series silicon of any Apple iOS product. Which seems a bit peculiar. I mean, why would Apple bother re-engineering its holdover entry-level tablet to run its most cutting-edge mobile processor chip?

Unless……. the new iPad 2 is being used as a testbed for the CPU that will be used in the next iPhone. That postulate appears to make quite a bit of logical sense. Reportedly, Samsung’s 32nm chip fabrication process has allowed the A5′s physical size to be reduced by 41 percent, which is pretty substantial, and could arguably be a key facilitator in making the next iPhone thinner, while paradoxically packing in a larger display, LTE 4G support, and perhaps NFC electronic credit card support. Read More

Digitimes’ Max Wang and Steve Shen reported this week that OEM subcontractors in in Apple’s Asian iPad upstream supply chain have begun delivering samples of 7.85-inch iPads for verification. Sources in the industry tell them that volume production of the smaller iPad is likely to begin in the third quarter of 2012 earliest, which is around the same time as many Apple-watchers expect the iPhone 5 to be unveiled

Wang and Lee project that a 7.85-inch iPad will sell for somewhere in the $249-$299 range, with Apple also expected to release an 8GB iPad 2 next week to sell for $349-$399, and to lower the the 16GB iPad 2′s price to $449 their sources indicate. That will allow Apple to command somewhat higher price points for the iPad 3, which is expected to have a 9.7-inch Full HD QXGA panel with a resolution of 2048 by 1536 (264dpi), possibly pegged at about $580 for the lowest-priced model.

If all of the above unfolds as speculated, Apple will have most of the bases covered, and the prospect of a 7.85-inch iPad raises the questions of whether it could satisfy to some degree pent-up demand for a substantially larger display iPhone, and also whether the iPod touch would have much of a future.

I think the 7.85-inch iPad is a pretty strong likelihood, notwithstanding that the late Steve Jobs was a vehement critic of the seven-inch screen form factor, arguing forcefully in October, 2010 that seven-inch tablets are “tweeners” — “too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.” Jobs noted that while seven inches doesn’t sound radically smaller than the iPad’s 9.7-inch display, with the superficial impression being that it would offer 70 percent of the benefits of a 10-inch screen, the facts are that since the nominal screen dimensions are diagonal, a seven-inch screen provides only 45 percent as large an actual area as the iPad’s 10-inch screen — ergo: less than half the screen real estate you get with an iPad, which in Mr. Jobs’s, and therefore Apple’s opinion wasn’t sufficient “to create great tablet apps.”

Mr. Jobs also referred to Apple’s “extensive user testing on touch interfaces” having revealed that there are limits on how close you can physically place elements on a touchscreen before users can’t reliably tap, flick, or pinch them, concluding that a 10-inch screen was “the minimum size required to create great tablet apps,” and predicting that the iPad’s seven-inch competitors would flop, with their manufacturers learning “the painful lesson that their tablets are too small,”

However, that was then, and this is now. Basement-priced 7-inch tablets from Amazon (Kindle Fire) and Barnes & Noble (Nook Tablet) haven’t really hurt iPad a whole lot, but they have obviously bled away some sales at the lower end of the tablet market. And more significantly, formidable new competition is coming with Microsoft’s Windows 8 Metro OS user interface for smartphones and tablets later this year. It’s arguable that Apple needs to have the smaller tablet base covered in order to defend its market share advantage.

Going with a 7.85-inch screen will both sidestep the legacy of Steve Jobs’s opposition to the seven-inch form factor and going that much larger actually will mitigate some of his objections given the geometrical realities, and result in a more pocketable and portable device as well as a lower price point. But would it also satisfy at least some of the demand for a larger-screen iPhone?

Not for everyone of course. Many users want both a larger screen and telephony capabilities, but I think a significant number are likely just looking for a handheld computing device that’s easier to carry around than the 10-inch iPad is, but with greater screen size than the iPhone’s 3.5-inch panel. Also, it’s rumored that the iPad 3 or 2S or whatever the machine to be rolled out at Apple’s special event next Wednesday will have 4G/LTE support, which is a feature some users are hoping for in the iPhone 5.

There is inevitably some overlap and convergence between the iPad and iPhone markets, although as Mr. Jobs noted in his Philippic against seven-inch tablets, many users have both. An interesting metric from NetMarketShare’s Market Share reports for February that were released yesterday is that notwithstanding ongoing robust sales of the iPhone 4S, iPad passed iPhone as the most prolific iOS platform version, taking 29.97 percent of the market compared with iPhone’s 28.12 percent.

My thinking at this point is that Apple will probably go with a four-inch display for the iPhone 5, but not very likely much larger, and the existence of a 7.85-inch iPad would make a 4.2-inch, 4.5-inch or 5-inch iPhone an even less realistic possibility than it might have been.

What do you think? Would a 7.85″ iPad appeal to you, and how much would it affect the iPhone’s trajectory?

Sprint made big news in 2011 by onboarding the iPhone 4S into its inventory, and boasting of big 4G LTE plans for 2012. But little has been reported on Sprint offering the rumored 4G LTE iPad 3, and few rumors out there paint a grim picture.

Run a Google News search for “Sprint iPad 3,” and you’ll find little out there that addresses the issue. While plenty has already been written about the iPad 3 being 4G LTE and how it will debut on both AT&T and Verizon’s 4G LTE networks, Sprint has been left out of the conversation by and large. Even the iPhone 5 News Blog has little to draw from in our 17 months of writing that triangulates Apple, Sprint, and the iPad. Only this rather amusing anti-iPad advertisement from Sprint is worth noting.

Other blogs and news sites have little to add. Daily Tech had this to say: “It has been confirmed that AT&T and Verizon Wireless will both sell a version of the iPad 3 that has 4G capabilities. Both AT&T and Verizon are currently the only two carriers who sell the iPad. At this point, it’s uncertain if other carriers like Sprint Nextel Corp. or T-Mobile USA will also sell the new iPad.”

News Sizzle was even more demonstrably negative: “According to industry sources, Sprint will be left somewhat lagging behind when the iPad 3 launch comes about in March, as the new LTE model will not be supported,” though they never substantiate these reports in the article.

For Sprint customers, this comes as a bit of a surprise, since, as you will recall, Sprint themselves boasted of the wide-ranging investments being made into a shiny, new 4G LTE infrastructure back in 2011, just around the time the iPhone 4S was released on Sprint. The iPhone 5 News Blog covered a long, tedious Sprint press conference, held just days after Tim Cook announced the iPhone 4S, wherein after heralding the addition of the iPhone, spent the lion’s share of time telling the media how Sprint would be ready to onboard 4G LTE devices soon into 2012. This is what we reported back in October: “We were explicitly told in the press conference that Sprint’s first 4G devices will be dual-mode CDMA/LTE devices — including tablets and smartphones — and that they will begin to be available in mid 2012, expecting 15 4G-ready devices in the first wave.”

It can be argued that “mid 2012″ is not March, and so while Sprint would appear to be on track for a 4G LTE iPhone 5, they made no promises about having the 4G LTE iPad 3 ready to go by this point in the year. But for a company that continues to struggle in spite of gaining the iPhone, how will Sprint mitigate the loss of either not carrying the iPad 3, or otherwise getting it a few months late? By that time, all chances of prospecting for new subscribers with the iPad 3 (on a flat rate data plan) will be all but dried up, with only the Sprint subscriber base to sell to.

There is one possible alternative to Sprint passing on the iPad 3: there is some sense that they might add the iPad 2 at the same time that iOS 5.1 is released. According to the IBTimes, “Code for the iPad 3 was discovered in November when Apple released its iOS 5.1 beta update to developers, which accidentally revealed references to a next-generation iPhone and two next-gen iPads, internally named iPhone 5,1, iPad 2,4 and iPad 3,3, respectively. Analysts believe the iPad listed as “iPad 2,4″ is not a new iPad, but rather an upgraded iPad 2 with WiMAX functionality, possibly powered by Sprint.” The notion of Sprint releasing the iPad 2 on the same day that iOS 5.1 — and possibly the iPad 3 — are released, however, just has bad optics. How could anyone on the “Now Network” get excited with having the opportunity to purchase a 3G iPad 2 when the 4G LTE iPad 3 has just been released? It may not actually be an Epic Fail, but it will sure look like one.

With Apple purportedly set to mainstream 4g LTE into the marketplace with the iPad 3 and iPhone 5, it is essentially that Sprint delivers on all of its audacious promises for have a stellar 4G network. Starting out by missing the iPad 3 release date will not be a start in a good direction.

By Michael Nace

The story alleging that Chinese authorities had recently pulled iPad 2s from the shelves in mainland China over a trademark dispute took a new turn today, with Apple claiming that they requested that the iPads be removed. But there are still questions about this story that need to be answered.

Yesterday we reported on a breaking story out of mainland China, where it was reported that Chinese authorities seized shipments of iPads, on account of the current legal battle between Apple and Proview, which claims to have first owned the “iPad” trademark. Today, apple took steps to tamp down the escalating story by claiming that they had in fact requested that the iPads be pulled, and not because of the trademark fight, but rather over a reseller dispute.

According to TFTS: “The current reports suggest that the reason Amazon China pulled the iPad from its shelves had nothing at all to do with the ongoing legal wranglings between Apple and Proview, a Chinese firm which asserts it owns the rights to the name iPad. The actual cause behind it was that Amazon China was not an authorized Apple reseller, and that the issue between the two is really an ancillary matter, with both Apple and Amazon China having worked on this issue for weeks, and even before the Proview issues really got started in earnest.”

At face value, this explanation from Apple would seem to put the matter to rest. But TFTS adds that “However, no such explanation seems to exist for Chinese online retailer Suning, who also pulled the iPad from its listings, but without much in the way of contact from Apple.”

So, in spite of the fact that Apple’s PR department went out of their way to attempt to stifle speculation over sales of the iPad 2 in China and, even more importantly, how this Proview situation could potentially escalate to the point where it could affect iPad 3 and iPhone 5 production, there is still a dangling loose end to the story: why did Suning pull iPads from its listings? Because there is still no explanation from this particular Chinese reseller — or Apple for that matter — the issue still remains open.

The only difference is that now Apple is giving the appearance of looking defensive, and perhaps even desperate to appease an uneasy Chinese government, which could very easily bar Apple from doing business in mainland China and completely destroy Cupertino’s business model. Given these implications, it isn’t hard to imagine how Apple has very little leverage with the Communist Chinese government; while Google’s well-documented battles in China have merely kept them out of their market, Apple’s success is inextricably tied to being able to have its premium-priced products assembled on the Chinese mainland, where staffers suffer horrid working condition and work for pennies an hour. If Apple were to lose the ability to assemble in China, prices for the iPad, iPhone, and all of Apple’s beloved products would necessarily skyrocket.

It remains to be seen if the public will ever get the full story on what has transpired in China over the iPad. And given the “crony Capitalism” that dominates Beijing, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that the trademark issue between Proview and Apple will be settled behind the scenes, with large sums of money changing hands in order to grease the wheels of the totalitarian Chinese system.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on any further developments regarding this story.

By Michael Nace

Note: Our original article on this story came from a great report from Ben Shapiro at Big Peace.

While some political and financial analysts predict a trade war between the U.S. and China in the near future, it would appear that it has already begun, with Apple’s iPad in the Chinese government’s crosshairs.

Anyone who follows news about the iPhone and iPad know that legal and lawsuit battles between Cupertino and its competitors is well-documented. But while trademark and patent infringements have been fought exclusively in count rooms concerning devices like the iPad and iPhone, the Chinese government has brought to bear the might of their totalitarian grip over Chinese law and finance by recently confiscating shipments of iPads into China.

According to reports, China is disallowing iPad imports due to a copyright infringement battle heating up between Apple and a Chinese company called Proview Shenzen, which claims to have trademarked the “iPad” brand name years before Apple began using it.

It is true that Proview did hold the trademark for “iPad at one time, but an Apple spokesperson recent explained, “We bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago,” and that “Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China.”

And it would appear that they have persuaded the Chinese government to throw their weight behind taking their side of the legal battle.

It still remains to be seen how far this situation could escalate. Ben Shapiro at BigPeace argues that this early move by China could be the first shot in an escalating trade war that could dramatically impact iPad prices and beyond: “With the Chinese government looking to gain any advantage it can against American companies in the technology sector (just take a look at their attempts to cheaply knock off other technologies), Apple would be a perfect start.  And if the Chinese government did ban import/export of the Apple product, it would significantly impact the price of the iPads in the United States, since all iPads are assembled in China.”

At present, there is no formal ban on Apple imports or exports, and all reports indicate that other Apple products continue to be allowed into mainland China for resale.

Rising Tensions Between Apple and China Could Affect iPad 3, iPhone 5 Production

As Mr. Shapiro reminds us in his own article, iPads ironically are assembled in China. And while it has not been reported that the current impasse between Apple and Proview will lead to a situation where production will be affected, it is not hard to imagine how an escalation could lead to unintended consequences, wherein iPad 3 and iPhone 5 could be halted.

If this story continues to develop, it is not impossible to imagine that the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 release dates could be moved back in 2012. And if assembly has to be moved out of mainland China, the price tag on both devices could also escalate.

By Michael Nace

 If the iPhone 5 rumor mill in 2012 is proving anything, it’s that what comes around goes around. But this time, some of the tactics employed by the tech world to slurp up iPhone 5 buzz is now being used for the iPad 3.

In a publicity stunt much like the big Case-Mate leaked iPhone 5 case story of 2011, consumer electronics case designer Otterbox has begun to leverage iPad 3 buzz by blogging ferociously about the iPad 3 release rumors and even staking a claim on an Otterbox Defender case for the iPad 3. In an e-mail blast to subscribers of their website, Otterbox had this to say: “

Excitement is building and the rumor mills are spinning toward another highly anticipated Apple announcement. We don’t know when, but we do know that the next iOS device will receive iProtection from OtterBox. We’re expecting a new iPad and whether it’s an iPad 2S, iPad 3 or something else, we can confirm we will have a Defender Series case available…[it] will be OtterBox’s flagship option for the new device.”

To be fair, Otterbox’s approach to promoting via iPad 3 rumors is more earnest than the original Case-Mate leaked iPhone 5 case publicity stunt, which we identified immediately as bogus. Case-Mate was audacious enough to cite their own “inside sources,” which turned out to be wrong in large part. This is what their original promotional content read: ““The debate continues on whether the new iPhone will be an iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S. From our inside resources, it appears that Apple will be indeed launching both an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 4S in early October. The speculation indicates that the iPhone 4S will feature the same form factor as the iPhone 4 but will be upgraded with the latest technology, including the A5 dual-core processor and 8 mega-pixel camera.”

Well, they were right about the iPhone 4S, but totally wrong about the dual release with the iPhone 5. And all 0f those leaked photos of iPhone 5 cases were bogus, too.

It would appear that Otterbox wants to avoid any negative blowback for misreporting anything about the iPad, while still capturing some of the buzz and excitement without going too far out on a limb. In fact, Otterbox is making a safe bet that the rumors of a nearly identical form factor to the iPad 2 are true, and that they will only have to make very slight changes to the Defender iPad case series in order to be first-to-market with it.

I can tell you from my own inside sources from within the consumer electronics accessories market that all of the major case designers are planning the same approach as Otterbox — they just have yet to publicize it. As a result, I would expect the first new case designs for the iPad 3 to be relatively pedestrian, and mere refreshes of what is already out there for the iPad 2.

By Michael Nace

Nothing heralds the release of a new product more than a fire sale. With news that the iPad 2′s price is being slashed by $70, the iPad 3 cannot be far behind.

In our travels across the iPhone 5 dimension, you’ll recall that the Summer of 2011 was spent “reading the tea leaves” of every scrap of circumstantial evidence suggesting the impending announcement of the new iPhone. One of the developments that we kept close watch on was when the iPhone 4 and 3GS went on sale; the assumption is that retailers look to clear out old stock in anticipation of the new product.

Today, we’re reading reports that the iPad 2 has begun to go on sale. According to Apple Insider, “Meijer, a regional big-box retailer in the U.S., has slashed the in-store price of the 16GB iPad 2 with Wi-Fi by $70 . . . The chain announced the sale in its weekly ad for the week of February 12 – 18, noting that it runs only while supplies last and does not include rain checks or substitutions. A separate listing on the company’s website lists the $429 price as lasting until Feb. 25 and notes that the iPad 2 deal is only available in stores.”

The fact that Meijer is slating its sale to end on February 25th would lend credence to the rumor that Apple is targeting February 29th — this year’s leap day — for the iPad 3 announcement, though other reports have suggested that the date could in fact be March 29th.

It is worth noting that clearance sales of the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 came months ahead of the actual iPhone 4S release. In an article posted here on the blog on August 18th, we reported that “Target is slashing prices of the AT&T iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4, with the 3GS priced at just $19.99, 16GB iPhone 4 at $169.99 and 32GB at $249.99. Target has cut prices similarly on Verizon’s iPhone 4 models as well.” Best Buy joined the fray on August 22nd, 2011. While these reports seemed to suggest that the iPhone’s announcement was close at hand, we ended up waiting almost two more months before the official announcement.

Given retailers’ track record of mis-predicting Apple product launches, the price cutting of the iPad 2 has to be taken with a grain of salt. We have always hoped that top retailers have had an inside track on when the new iPhone and iPad are to be released, but it would seem that, with the exception of Apple’s mobile carrier partners, the retail world is kept largely in the dark about Apple’s product releases.

Thus, Meijer might just be rolling the dice on an iPad 2 sale, betting that February 29th will be the big iPad 3 announcement date, followed by a quick product release (which is also being rumored). If their bet turns out to be a good one, they will have cleared out a large portion of their iPad 2 stock, making way for fresh iPad 3s.

The safe bet at this point is that the iPad 3 is going to land sometime between February and March 29th.

iPhone 5 components supplier Foxconn recently turned over staffers to Chinese authorities for leaking iPad 2 specs to case designers in 2010, well ahead of its official release this year. With this in mind, is there any chance of leaked authentic iPhone photos or specs making their way to the internet this summer?

Do you love critiquing leaked photos of purported iPhone 5 components and prototypes? There’s no doubt that every new and credible photo or video that appears on the internet ratchets up the buzz and excitement over the next iteration of the iPhone. Is the photo real, or is it a fake?

Given what recently transpired at Foxconn, one of Apple’s primary components manufacturers, chances are that few if any authentic photos of new iPhone 5 equipment will be making their way out of Foxconn’s factory in China.

The Register has reported that Foxconn turned over two of their own staffers to Chinese authorities for allegedly leaking specs of the iPad 2 to case and accessories designers in 2010, well ahead of its recent release in 2011. Writer Richard Chirgwin reported that, “The design leak allowed the third party manufacturers to build iPad 2 cases that were the right thickness and accommodate the location of the camera on the rear of the device.”

The tech community did indeed do a double-take at how rapidly the top case case designers rolled out fresh, tight-fitting iPad 2 cases, given the fact that the second iteration of the iPad 2 did see some changes to its dimensions. But considering the form-factor of the iPad 2 is relatively similar to its predecessor, most tech pundits assumed that it was simply easier to adjust base iPad case designs the second time around, versus having to “inflate” the dimensions of iPhone cases to accommodate the first iPad, as they did in 2010.

Little did we all know that Foxconn employees were leaking the iPad 2 specs — and for lots of money, no doubt, especially given the mammoth size of the consumer electronics accessories sector worldwide.

We’ve reported before in an earlier article how case designers for the iPhone and iPad struggle to keep pace with Apple’s famously tight-lipped product release schedule. Thanks to Cupertino’s legendary “Worldwide Loyalty Team,” secrets are kept close to Apple’s belt, with the idea being that, the fewer the leaks, the bigger the splash when CEO Steve Jobs walks out onto that stage with whatever newfangled gadget he’s come up with. Take, for example, original iPhone: it is well-documented that it was kept a total secret from the public for 30 months from the time of its inception. Even the CIA couldn’t hold a secret for that long.

Gizmodo has a great exposé on how the Worldwide Loyalty Team works. And Gizmodo should know, considering that their own Jason Chen found himself in their crosshairs last summer when he obtained a prototype of the iPhone 4.

But for as much as Apple is resoundingly solid in containing leaks from within the U.S., controlling the security situation at their components manufacturers overseas is another story. There is no doubt that Apple’s contractual relationship with companies like Foxconn includes a security and non-disclosure clause that is probably unlike anything else in the tech industry, requiring its partners to conform to strict security standards that must be followed in order to keep the working relationship in good standing. It can also be assumed that Apple “operatives” — even from the Worldwide Loyalty Team — spend a fair share of time slinking around Foxconn’s facilities (they are a worldwide organization, after all).

But they cannot keep their finger on the pulse of every aspect of security at Foxconn or other manufacturers, which is why the iPad 2 specs were able to be leaked last year.

How The Foxconn Bust Impacts the iPhone 5

Given the now delicate nature of the iPhone 5′s release date and purported features (or lack thereof), all eyes are going to point toward Foxconn, looking for any signs that the iPhone 5 has gone into production. But any information we gain over the summer about the iPhone 5 is most likely going to be circumstantial at best; it’s hard to imagine that anyone at Foxconn would risk leaking iPhone 5 photos, prototypes, or specs, all while two of their comrades are being sweated down by the Chinese police.

One could also imagine that there are some case manufacturers shaking in their boots as well, who, up until the arrests last week, may have been feeling out the prospect of getting an advance peek at the new iPhone 5 dimensions, so that they could once again be first to market with their iPhone 5 cases.

All of that seems unlikely now.

So, the next time a shady website claims to have new parts, photos, or specs of the iPhone 5, think of those ex-Foxconn employees under the hot lamp of the Chinese investigators and ask yourself: would anyone risk leaking this stuff to the media?

By Michael Nace

Will the A5 chip be enough to propel the iPhone 5 to greatness?

Although many new features for the iPhone 5 have been speculated on, few seem to be set in stone — with the exception of the A5 processor. but if the A5 turns out to be the “crown jewel” of the iPhone 5 upgrade, will that be enough to excite iPhone users?

There’s no doubt that the most talked-about piece of news concerning the iPhone 5 has to be the release date. But a close second is the swirling debate about which features the iPhone 5 will boast. There has been a steady stream of reports about a wide range of different purported features, such as a larger screen, 8 megapixel camera, NFC technology, a non-existent home button, aluminum chassis, and more.

However, there seems to be no agreement on whether any of these features will actually materialize on the iPhone 5 — they seem to “here one week and gone the next.” Even the next iOS 5 operating system has been called into question as to whether or not it will appear on the iPhone 5, with analysts suggesting that it might not be ready until the Fall of 2011.

The only new development for the iPhone 5 that all of the reports and tech pundits seem to agree on is the A5 chip.

And this, of course, is the easiest feature to predict, since it has already seen mainstream application in this year’s new iPad 2. Thus far, the A5 processor has gotten rave reviews from analysts and users alike: tech-oriented folks appreciate the bold power of the A5 and foresee it as a trailblazer for even better things to come, while the average iPad 2 user just feels the improved speed and functionality.

That being said, there was more to the iPad 2′s successful launch than just the A5: the addition of a front- and rear-facing camera, cool gyro feature, industry-leading price, and a thinner and lighter chassis all contributed to the robust sales that the iPad 2 continues to enjoy. The A5 was the “under the hood” improvement from the original iPad, and one could argue that, while it is a key upgrade to the iPad, it isn’t the most “marketing friendly” feature for un-geeky tablet users.

With this mind, what if the A5 chip turns out to be the only significant upgrade for the iPhone 5? Will that be enough to energize iPhone users to the point where they’ll shell out big money to upgrade?

Probably not.

No matter how powerful the A5 processor may be, without some accompanying “bells and whistles” on the iPhone 5, few mainstream iPhone users will see the point in putting to rest their iPhone 4. This reality is precisely why Ferrari, Lambourghini, Porche, and other exotic car manufactuers put a beautiful body on their high-performance sports cars; if their cars looked like a Prius on the outside, no one would buy them at their price point, no matter how big their engines are. (And apologies to all you Prius drivers out there.)

Truth be told, iPhone users will be looking for one big feature to get excited about. Last year, it was the addition of the front-facing camera on the iPhone 4 that excited people. Apple was able to recycle that feature on the new iPad 2. But for the iPhone 5, the A5 processor alone won’t be enough to propel it past this year’s Droid offerings — and at this point, the A5 is the only feature we can bank on.

Let us know what you think about the A5 chip, and if it would be enough to get you excited about buying an iPone 5!

What You Need To Know About the A5 Processor

One way to get excited about the iPhone 5 — even if its only major upgrade from the iPhone 4 turns out to be its chip — is to fully understand and appreciate the power and performance of the A5 in its glory. First, some of the basic stuff: the A5 chip follows in the tradition of all Apple’s mobile processors in that it is a a package on package (PoP) system-on-a-chip (SoC). This means that the whole operating system fits on the chip itself, as compared to personal computers, where the OS is stored and runs off of the hard drive.

The A5 chip is manufactured by top-notch Samsung, and although Samsung has allowed Apple to keep their production costs down, all indications are that the A5 chip is pretty pricey to make. While Apple seemed willing to eat the extra cost of the A5 processor on the iPad 2, it remains to be seen if that will be the case for the iPhone 5 — it could see an uptick in its price point at the expense of a faster mobile computing experience.

The other cool thing about the A5 is that it is a dual-core processor. This means that the CPU has two independent cores that are integrated on one circuit. What does that mean for the layman? The dual-core set-up lets you multi-task at greater speed and fluidity — it’s like having “two computers in one.”

Speaking of speed, the A5 has lots of it. It has been rated at  1 GHz on the iPad 2. However, the chip can dynamically adjust itself to save battery life. The result is that the A5 processor is basically twice as fast as the old A4, and said to be nine times faster than the A4 on graphics. So if you love your graphics on the iPhone 4, wait until you see them running on an A5-powered iPhone 5!

By Michael Nace