The iPhone 5 News Blog

Three well-priced, well-equipped iPhones at Apple.com

Media and consumer critics complained in the past that offering just one iPhone wasn’t enough for Apple to accommodate the wide-ranging needs of its customers. But with the iPhone 5, 4S, and 4, Apple customers have never had more of a choice in features — as well as price.

With gas prices ever-soaring, few motorists even consider buying premium or the elusive “plus” grade gasoline at gas stations in the U.S. — generally, people go for the cheap stuff (with “cheap” being a relative term). Back before the iPhone 4S was released, back when Apple was selling just the iPhone 4 and 3GS, sensible people who read and comment on the iPhone rumor mill scoffed at those age-old rumors of a dual-released iPhone 4S and 5. “That will never happen,” they said (me included). Apple doesn’t do co-releases. Besides, what would they do with three iPhone models? And who would buy the middling “iPhone 4S?” It’d be like the “plus” grade of iPhones.

Well, one iPad 4/iPad Mini co-release and two years later, those stringent Apple conventions are fast melting away. The online store at Apple.com happily lists three iPhone models, each with different price points and features. But unlike gasoline in the U.S., the “plus” and “premium” iPhones tend to be the most sought-after these days, with the “regular” iPhone 4 offering a solid value-priced model.

Who would have ever thought? Read More

Apple has released an explanation for the bizarre, frustrating “purple flare” problem associated with the iPhone 5′s camera and flash, and once again, they’re blaming the problem on user error.

If you ever buy a new iPhone and something doesn’t seem right about it, chances are it’s all your fault. Or at least that seems to be the prevailing explanation that Apple gives its customers whenever epidemic problems arise with its mobile devices. As far back as the iPhone 4, the “antennagate” problem was caused by the way users held the phone, the battery drain on the 4S was caused by silly-hearted, capricious users running too many apps at once, and now, with the iPhone 5, “purpleflaregate” (just made that up — not really an official “gate” yet) is, according to Cupertino, a byproduct of users just being really lousy at taking pictures.

TGDaily explains that: “many users have been complaining that their photographs are marred by a purple flare near the edge. It shows up when there’s a light source just outside the image.” And the problem has been widespread enough for Apple to address the issue, which they did so in this statement. Here is the crux of what they had to say: Read More

Another round of purported iPhone 5 photos have emerged, depicting the small component initially identified as NFC-related, but panned by others as false, due to the iPhone 5′s metal back. More fakes, or more glimpses?

You want more salacious iPhone 5 photos? We’ve got ‘em! You’ll recall that just a few days ago we passed along some photos of purported iPhone 5 parts that were dubbed the “most comprehensive assembly” of the iPhone 5 that we’ve seen thus far. What was particularly interesting about these photos was the advent of a small chip to the right of the earpiece, which was assumed to be the long-rumored NFC chip. The next day, Jim Dalrymple and co. panned the photos as false, since the metal back of the iPhone 5 — which Dalrymple tacitly confirmed — couldn’t work with NFC. And the fact that the photos didn’t have any shot of the back seemed conspicuous at best.

Today, we have a new set up photos depicting the same little chip, and once again, no view of the back to see if it compared with the metal back of the early 9to5mac photos. Do these new photos answer any questions, or just raise more of them? Read More

Asymco blogger Horace Dediu is a number-cruncher and IT commentator who researches and graphically interprets and analyzes various industry metrics. His blog is usually worth a look. An eight-year former employee of Nokia, with a MBA from Harvard Business School, Mr. Dediu, who lives in Helsinki, Finland is both experienced and well-connected in the fields he covers.

In an interview with Network World’s John Cox, published Friday, Mr. Dediu makes some interesting observations about last year’s iPhone 4S release, and what it portends regarding the upcoming release of a sixth-generation iPhone — AKA iPhone 5. He observes that the 4S was widely criticized by the tech press for a variety of purported shortcomings, but it became by far the best-selling iPhone model to date, because, says Dediu, it was a very much improved product over the iPhone 3GS, which was what most users who upgraded their iPhones has been using, given that average time interval of service for smartphones is about 24 months, and because the 4S, despite the criticisms of its detractors, offered a solid set of unique feature upgrades like Siri, a Retina Display and a higher-resolution camera. Dediu predicts that this formula will be applied again for the next iPhone and that it will be equally successful, adding that the tech press has been a good counter-indicator for market success.

If I’m interpreting his comment accurately, that would seem to imply another evolutionary upgrade rather than a revolutionary redesign from scratch, which would no doubt disappoint fans and pundits who have been anticipating the latter. Personally, my deductive anticipation has been that the 2012 iPhone will be a more revolutionary departure than the iPhone 4S was, but it’s difficult to gainsay that Apple’s strategy last fall was mistaken given the 4S’s stellar sales performance.

I suppose it also depends considerably on how one defines “revolutionary.” Would a 4-inch (ish) display, 4G support, and upgrades to existing features like Siri and the cameras be considered revolutionary enough?

Meanwhile the school of thought that’s been predicting a September new iPhone release got a bit of support from the Japanese Apple-watcher site Macotakara’s danbo, in a blog mainly about “a Chinese reliable source claiming that Apple’s forthcoming iPad mini will be produced by Foxconn’s new manufacturing facility in Brazil. However danbo also notes that this same insider source tells him that the rumored possibility of a new iPhone shipping in September, that was reported by DigiTimes “is getting closer to truth.”

Make of that what you will.

A new report out of Asia claims that only 30% of the batteries that Apple has been producing meet Cupertino’s quality standards. Given the high-performance rumored components expected on the iPhone 5, what does this mean for the iPhone 5 release date?

It seems as if every Apple product has one nagging issue to deal with. In 2010, the iPhone 4 suffered from the infamous “antennagate.” And in spite of record sales of the iPhone 4S in 2010-2011, the fifth-generation iPhone dogged with complaints from users about its battery life. Apple sought to rectify the situation through software upgrades to iOS 5, but now it would appear that the battery issues on the iPhone 4S were part of a bigger batter problem plaguing Cupertino.

According to analyst Brian White, of Topeka Capital Markets, Apple is having battery quality issues that are purportedly endemic. TechRadar reports: Read More

A flood of new iPhone component orders, as well as a new analyst’s report detailing a 25% drop in iPhone 4S production, indicates that the iPhone 5 production process is well underway. But how do these production rumors wash with the “two prototypes” rumor?

We’ve been noting recently that there has been a great deal of contradiction between iPhone 5 rumors that have been hard to reconcile. A couple of new reports today have further complicated the prognostication process, with new whisperings out of Asia that Apple — and its assembly partner Foxconn — are beginning to buy up the parts they need to assemble what is ostensibly the iPhone 5.

According to SlashGear, the iPhone 5 “. . . is set to have components that are not necessarily working with the same companies Apple has been working with before. . .”If this is the case, then, in my opinion, it remains to be seen when iPhone 5 component production really began, since new component supplies may mean that analysts have not been looking in the right places for clues. Regardless, specific information on components appears to be bubbling to the surface, “. . . with the most recent supply shock being Apple’s leaked purchase of flash memory products with Elpida, a competitor with the then $10 million USD poorer Samsung, for over half of their total parts in-house.”

SlashGear has also put their finger on this rumor: “Apple has also continued to push for parts across China and with the group known as TXC. Reports today show that TXC has secured component supply orders for use with the next iPhone release. TXC is a quartz crystal device maker in China.”

But the most interesting production rumor that SlashGear and others are reporting has to do with what Foxconn is up to. Read More

Recent rumors claim that production on the iPhone 5 screen has only just begun. If this is true, is it possible for Apple to produce enough iPhone 5 units in time for an announcement at the WWDC and launch in early July?

This year’s WWDC has become the first watershed moment for Apple and the eventual release of the iPhone 5, with the majority of the tech media assuming that it will come and go without the release of the iPhone 5. Conversely, Apple enthusiasts have hung their hopes on circumstantial evidence, such as Apple’s recent acquisition of the iPhone5.com domain, purported leaked parts, and an aggressive push to get the new Nano Sim standard passed — not to mention the rationale that Apple will look to restore its usual iPhone release to the WWDC this year.

The most recent rumors have broken in favor of the conservative fall iPhone 5 release.

A WSJ report from last week made a big splash by claiming that displays for the upcoming iPhone 5 — which purportedly measure somewhere in the 4-inch range — are set to begin production next month. Mind you: this rumor isn’t claiming that the iPhone 5 is going into production next month, but rather only the display components will begin to be produced. If we are to believe this rumor — which comes from one of the more respected and trusted tech sources on the internet today — then it means that the iPhone 5 is nowhere near being announced at the WWDC.

But the big “if” here is that you trust the WSJ report as accurate. Read More

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White’s claims that his trip to Asia recently netted him a few iPhone 5 insights, including a unibody form factor and late summer release date. Read why I think the first rumor sounds plausible, but the second one makes little sense to me.

As a rule, we should take analysts’ prediction with as many grains of salt as we do tech rumor blogs, as many of them use their clout as analysts to gin up the market on speculation of wild, fantastical rumors. Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White, however, offered up a few new rumor tidbits about the iPhone 5 that are worth delving into, whether they turn out to be credible or not.

On his recent visit to Asia, Mr. white claims to have picked up some clues about the iPhone 5′s features and release date. His claim that the iPhone 5 will sport a 4-inch screen and 4G LTE aren’t really eyebrow-raising prognostications, since a 4-inch+ display and 4G seem to be foregone conclusions for the next iPhone. More interesting, however, are his comments about the iPhone 5′s form factor.

According to Business Insider, the iPhone 5 will sport “a new, sleek look that we believe will require a Unibody case. This new, sleek look will be the most important reason that consumers decide to upgrade to the iPhone 5.” This quote is a bit confusing: is BI saying that the iPhone 5′s form factor will be unibody, or that its sleek form factor will require a unibody case? Other tech publications have interpreted this quote differently. For example, ZDNET’s  Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, commenting on the iPhone 5 unibody quote, said, “I’m also not sure what to make of the unibody suggestion. It’s worth remembering that the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS were unibody construction in a sense (although not machined out of a single aluminum block). Apple can do some amazing things with aluminum but putting the antennas back inside the iPhone would leave less room inside for components (and the battery),” indicating that he thinks we’re talking about a single-piece chassis for the iPhone 5.

It’s worth mentioning that unibody construction is not an alien design element for Cupertino: we’ve seen them deploy it with the MacBooks. There were also faint rumors of a future iPhone being cut from a single piece of metal, though the notion of it being “cut” might be inaccurate, with Apple opting for the use of LiquidMetal to mold a metal unibody iPhone 5 form factor instead. LiquidMetal did make headlines on the day of the iPad 3′s launch by saying it was shipping a large shipment of its alloy for something mysterious, which briefly made investors think that the New iPad would be made of LiquidMetal.

Suffice it to say, a true unibody construction is not out of the question for the iPhone 5.

What seems less likely to me personally, however, is White’s belief that the iPhone 5 is slated for an august/September release date. You’ll recall that throughout the 2011 summer, we were told over and over again that the iPhone 5 would be released in august, then September. It never seemed like a reasonable possibility then, and it still doesn’t, since august is a particularly bad month of any product launch, due to the large number of people going on summer vacations in the northern hemisphere. To me, the iPhone 5 will be released either in June or in the fall, like the 4S — a late summer release just doesn’t seem viable.

BI envisions the late-summer iPhone 5 release date this way: “Our sense is that some suppliers will begin production of certain components during the month of June, however, this does not necessarily mean the iPhone 5 will launch in June or even July.” while BI is going on sense, it would appear that components are already in production, notably from Samsung and Texas Instruments. And if the iPhone 5 is to utilize the A5X processor in the New iPad, then those are already into mainstream production. If key components like the display, power management chip, and processor are already in production, it remains to be seen why BI would think that it will not be until June that we see production ramp up for the iPhone 5, as it will not take three months for Apple to amass the raw components they need to begin assembly.

In the end, it appears that what is driving BI and other tech blogs’ belief in a iPhone 5 release that is later rather than sooner is this assumption: “In our view, a August/September launch may make more sense given the iPhone 4S was just launched in October 2011.” There is a tendency to believe that whatever Apple does immediately sets a new pattern. I am still of the belief that 2011 was an irregular year for the iPhone release, and not necessarily a paradigm shift.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the BI article has this to say near the end of the article: “We believe the iPhone 5 ramp for the December quarter could be extraordinary, dwarfing previous launches and driving the stock closer to our $1,001 price target.” This quote shows how tech analyst hype does indeed build into Wall Street, with these new predictions looking to drive up speculation on Apple stock.

By Michael Nace

Thanks to continued rumors of a June iPhone 5 release date,consumers are once again stuck on whether to buy an iPhone 4S now or risk waiting for the iPhone 5 once again.

In case you didn’t hear, Apple shares just recently leap over $500 a share, thanks mostly to the boisterous sales of the iPhone 4S, which continue to remain brisk since its release in the late fall of 2011. After a very brief sales lull is 4S sales after Christmas, Apple’s newest iPhone iteration is back atop the sales charts again for what looks to be yet another amazing quarter.

Just to give you a sense of how the iPhone has propelled Apple’s success, consider what App Advice has to say: “Just eight years ago, in early 2004, the stock was trading for around $12. After that low, it’s been almost all positive for the company. And in just the last five years, Apple shares are up a mind-boggling 500 percent. Compare that to the general NASDAQ index, which is only up around 20 percent over the same time period.” Considering that the iPhone debuted in 2007, Apple’s landmark smartphone has played a major role, no doubt.

And yet, in spite of brisk sales and huge earnings, prospective iPhone users are now at a crossroads: with the iPhone 5 release date rumored to be closer than originally expected, many are rethinking purchasing the iPhone 4S and betting on the June-released iPhone 5 instead.

You may recall that this conundrum occupied the confused, beleaguered minds of iPhone users last year as well, with nearly all passionate legacy iPhone 3 and 3GS users questioning whether they should wait for the iPhone 5, or go ahead and upgrade to the iPhone 4. This subset of iPhone users are perhaps the most disgruntled of all, since they found themselves waiting, waiting, waiting for the iPhone 5 release date, which at first was supposed to be at the 2011 WWDC in June, then in August, then in early September. When it finally arrived in early October, it wasn’t even the iPhone 5, but rather the refreshed iPhone 4S. And many iPhone 3 and 3GS bought it, in an attempt to inadequately satisfy their desire for a new iPhone.

Now, with the iPhone 5 release date rumored for June, those people (are you one of them?) wish that they had at least invested in the cheaper iPhone 4, or otherwise waited just a bit longer. And legacy iPhone 4 users now find themselves in the same position in 2012: their iPhone is old, they’ve been hearing about the iPhone 5 since August of 2010, and now the rumor mill is boldly proclaiming a June release date, should they hold off on the iPhone 4S and just wait a little bit longer?

Apple is clearly concerned with this prospect, as they have obviously been keeping an eye on the rumor mill and are realizing that it could shift sales away from the iPhone 4S in the months leading up to June’s WWDC. As a result, a new round of iPhone 4S advertisements have hit the airwaves, perhaps in response to the concern that 4S sales could go limp without reaffirming that it is currently the flagship iPhone device. News Sizzle comments: “some analysts are now suggesting that a newly launched ad-campaign for the iPhone 4S marks the final push by Apple to help clear remaining inventory, ahead of an official iPhone 5 release date to be announced in the early summer months.”

These new commercials could indeed compel consumers to purchase the iPhone 4S. Though with the prospect of a larger screen, new form factor, A6 chip, improved Siri, a new iOS, and a host of other rumored upgrades, it will get increasingly difficult for Apple to keep the iPhone 4S sales steady as June approaches.

By Michael Nace

For years now, 4G LTE has been heralded as the “next generation” of mobile community. Analysts now believe that the iPhone 5 will indeed be LTE, and its sales and popularity will make 4G LTE the new standard for smartphones.

We’ll know for sure in a couple of months once the iPad 3 is released, but it looks highly probable that 4G LTE is finally coming to the iPhone 5 this year. Last week, Bloomberg reported last week that the iPad 3 is now in production and will indeed feature LTE. And by extension, if the iPad 3 gets LTE, so too will this year’s iPhone.

You may recall that an interesting survey was conducted not long after the iPhone 4S was released that highlighted what iPhone users saw lacking in the 4S. We did a post about it that is worth taking a second look at. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the lack of a larger screen that irked iPhone enthusiasts, but rather the lack of LTE. In this way, it would appear that the mobile computing community is more or less ready for 4G LTE to become the new standard.

The U.S. mobile networks seems to agree: Verizon and Sprint have invested copious amounts of resources into getting their 4G LTE network infrastructure up to snuff, with the sense that 2012 is going to be the technology’s breakout year. AT&T has perhaps been a bit less high-profile with its own LTE investitures, but given the company’s product-leading persona, there is no doubt that all three of the big three iPhone carriers in the U.S. will be ready to go with a true 4G network, once the iPhone 5 is released.

Now all we need is for the iPhone 5 to be LTE.

And according to new reports, the popularity of the iPhone 5, together with it featuring LTE, will effectively put 4G LTE on the map as the new standard in mobile communications. According to Appleinsider, “LTE smartphones could represent as much as 5 percent of global shipments this year, reaching between 25 million and 30 million units. It noted that while LTE devices are currently a small portion of cell phone sales, that is expected to change in the second half of the year, when Apple is rumored to join the fray.”

In other words, once Apple rolls out an LTE iPhone 5 and sells heaps of millions of them, LTE is going to become an exponentially increasing slice of the smartphone pie.

It is true that Android has been first to market with LTE smartphones, as the analyst in the above-quoted article notes. But he also implied what we all know intuitively: that Apple and Apple alone is the brand that the tech world expects to roll out new technologies. When he says, “While Android (is) still dominating the LTE smartphone segment, Nokia and HTC have launched LTE Windows Phone models, and Apple and RIM are expected to release comparable models running on their own platforms in the second half of 2012,” he is intimating the obvious: the iPhone 5 will be the game-changer in LTE, just as the iPad mainstreamed the tablet PC and the original iPhone pioneered the smartphone as we now know it.

The iPhone 5 Could Make 3G Smartphones Seem Obsolete Very Quickly

The impact of an LTE iPhone 5 in the mobile computing marketplace could be dramatic, with the new iPhone creating a virtual “black hole” that will quickly swallow up the 3G market and make all such devices seem like legacy hardware. Just as 3G quickly became the standard for mobile technology, so too could 4G force all manufacturers to retool for 4G LTE. By 2013, 3G might be a thing of the past.

This could mean crushingly high sales for Apple and the iPhone 5, living up to the bold sales predictions for the iPhone 5 made last year.

We often assume that new iPhone iterations look to onboard users from two iterations back. For example, the perception is that 3G and 3GS users mostly bought the iPhone 4S, while iPhone 4 users were still content to stick with their model and await the iPhone 5. There is conflicting data on this theory. But whether or not it is true, an LTE iPhone 5 could onboard a broad swath of users into 4G LTE — even many of the folks who bought into the iPhone 4S in 2011.

It would not even surprise me if Apple and the U.S. carriers make concessions to allow 4S customers to upgrade to the iPhone 5, even if it is released before the contract minimums. We can assume, after all, that 4G LTE will bring with it new revenue streams for the mobile carriers, who would be more than happy to subsidize a new iPhone and expand their revenues horizontally and residually. In this way, all current iPhone users could be nudged into abandoning their 3G iPhones for the new LTE iPhone 5.

The iPhone 5S in 2013: Count On It

Finally, a prediction: a pattern is developing, and I think we’ll see not the iPhone 6, but rather an iPhone 5S in 2013. In addition to the 3G/3GS, 4/4S pattern, I think that Apple will use two iterations — the dramatically overhauled iPhone 5 LTE and a refreshed 5S — to completely do away with its 3G smartphones and give all of the iPhone users an opportunity to get on the iPhone 5 train. The 5S will most likely be like the 4S: improved processors and software upgrades, all of which will benefit from the faster LTE. But we very well might not be discussing an iPhone 6 until the middle of 2013, with a release date sometime in — wow! — 2014.

By Michael Nace