The iPhone 5 News Blog

It’s hard to keep your finger of the pulse of everything that’s transpiring in the Apple universe, so leave it to the iPhone 5 News Blog readers and commenters to keep me in line. Commenter Michael D. dropped us a line last night and had this to say:

Based upon Apple’s previous methodology, the only time they have allowed retailers to discount their products have been just before release of the next iteration. I saw that one of your posters had mentioned that Target and another store had discounted the 4S and I just noticed on bestbuy.com that there is a $50 savings on the iPhone 4. Coincidence? I hope not.

Michael D.’s missive is well-timed: there are numerous reports today that connect nicely with the rise of iPhone 4S discounts in the U.S. retail sphere: Apple Insider, for example, is reporting that: “Analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee said in a note to investors on Tuesday that he has found in his checks with suppliers that Apple has reduced iPhone orders by between 20 and 25 percent from the 35.1 million units the company shipped in the March quarter.”

Similarly, PC Advisor had this to say about the downslope of 4S orders on Wall Street: “Some Wall Street analysts are ‘starting to panic’ over Apple’s revenues for the quarter, claims Jay Yarrow, in a story at BusinessInsider. ‘Analysts think Apple is due for a big come down,’ Yarrow insists. But it’s hard to see evidence of panic.”

So, here’s the situation: production orders for the 4S are way down, retailers are dropping the prices, and the iPhone 5 — whether because it is actually coming soon or is simply perceived to be coming soon — is directly impacting the sales and order figures for this quarter.

The big question is: do these developments point to the iPhone 5 actually coming soon, or are they only a result of the rumor mill? Read More

New evidence that iOS 6 beta is on its way to WWDC 2012.

Doubtless you’ve heard that iOS 6 beta is all but a lock for the WWDC this year, as reported by a bit of iCloud code recently unearthed by some folks over a 9to5Mac. For as much as the finding is pretty cool, I don’t think that this news should come as a surprise to anyone: Apple has kept the release of new iOS versions pretty consistent. Even last year, when the iPhone release cycle got a bit topsy-turvy, they still at least got the beta version of iOS 5 out for developers to test, all in anticipation for the fall-release iPhone 4S.

In previous years, developers got their hands on beta versions of the new iOS with ample time to test and peruse it so that the alpha version was ready for the WWDC. Thus, the new iPhone was able to ship with the new operating system. There has obviously been no public release of iOS 6 beta prior to the WWDC this year — no one has really seen it, apparently, since it most likely would have leaked — so, this means that the only way the iPhone 5 is coming in June is if ships in late June-early July with iOS 5.1, or maybe a 5.2 build.

The big question is: is that plausible? However you answer it determines whether a June-released iPhone 5 is possible or impossible. Read More

With the preponderance of speculation claiming that the iPhone 5′s new display will be on the lower end of 4 inches, the big, 5-inch iPhone 5 display rumor persists. With the big, new GS3 screen and the marginal success of the Galaxy Note, is the 5-inch display becoming a new smartphone benchmark that Apple could look to imitate?

You’ll recall that over the past few months, we processed some hefty rumors about Apple working on a beefy 5-inch display for its upcoming iPhone 5 release. Delving into the iPhone 5 News Blog‘s repository of  posts on the subject of screen size, I am reminded of this rather big story that came out of Japan on March 29th that new, 5-inch displays are being mass-produced in earnest for the iPhone 5. Prior to that, we also had a rumor on March 22nd out of South Korea — Samsung’s home base — that 4.6-inch screens were in production for the iPhone 5.

And let’s not forget: we’ve also heard rumors about a longer iPhone 5 display that would retain the device’s current width. Tech pundits have seemed to like this theory and accompanying rumor — supplied by iLounge last week — because it manages to balance everything we believe Apple is considering for the iPhone 5′s screen size: they want it to be bigger, but they don’t necessarily want it to radically change the overall dimensions of what looks and feels like an iPhone. But as you can see, the iPhone 5 screen size rumors are so varied and inconsistent that there is virtually no consensus. Heck, we’ve even heard some say that the new iPhone won’t feature any change in screen size. Read More

The Vertu Ascent - a LiquidMetal-based dumbphone

Last month, rumors broke out of Asia that LiquidMetal, the innovative metal alloy licensed exclusive for use in consumer electronics by Apple, would be featured in the iPhone 5′s form factor. That rumor was only the latest in a long-running belief that the iPhone 5 would be the iPhone iteration that finally factored LiquidMetal into its design, but this latest rumor propelled LiquidMetal’s stock price up, as more and more investors seem to be buying it (the rumor and the shares).

But a recent interview with LiquidMetal’s inventor reveals that, while his plastic-like metal alloy may indeed make its way onto the iPhone 5, it might not be used to create a mind-blowingly cool form factor that many are anticipating.

Quoting the interview, Mobile&Apps reports that Dr. Atakan Peker believes that the implementation of LiquidMetal to be used in a large-scale production effort, such as an iPhone’s chassis or form factor, is still a way’s away:

“There is “no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of the alloy technology,” Peker said. According to him, the technology “has yet to be matured and perfected both in manufacturing process and application development,” and it would cost Apple quite a fortune. “I estimate that Apple will likely spend on the order of $300 million to $500 million – and three to five years – to mature the technology before it can be used in large scale,” he told Business Insider.”

To be sure, the $300 to $500 million-dollar price tag for ramping up the manufacturing infrastructure to use LiquidMetal would not seem like much of a problem for Apple, which is quite possibly the most solvent supercompany in the world today. But Dr. Peker’s claim that there is ”no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of the alloy technology” is somewhat believable, when you consider that LiquidMetal is not currently used to produce any large-scale product, in terms of its manufacturing scope.

But there are plenty of other “complex” products on the market today that feature LiquidMetal. Read More

Let’s talk iPhone. More specifically, let’s talk about the name of the next iPhone — and how Apple is currently in the process of acquiring iPhone5.com.

There has been a great deal of conjecture about what Apple will name the next iPhone. Seeing as this year’s iPhone release will technically be the sixth-generation iteration of the Cupertino-based tech giant’s landmark smartphone, hard core Apple enthusiasts are quick to point out that Apple could never name the next iPhone “iPhone 5,” since the name would be out of sync with the generation. Pragmatists argue that the “iPhone 5″ moniker is just too hot for Apple to pass on, no matter how technically incorrect it may be. And still others say that Apple might simply adopt the “New iPhone” name for the next iPhone, as they did for this year’s third-generation iPad.

Last week, however, Apple took a big step in what might be the first solid clue as to what Cupertino will name the next iPhone.

In a very unusual move, Apple has taken action to wrest away the iphone5.com domain from another website owner. According to MacRumors, “Apple has filed a claim with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) seeking to gain control of the iPhone5.com domain. WIPO authorities are currently assessing compliance of Apple’s claim with the agency’s regulations, and proceedings are likely to be initiated in the near future.” Currently, the iPhone5.com domain is owned by someone else, and at present, very little is on it — it’s nothing more than a bland forum of iPhone 5 discussion.

The iphone5.com website gets very little traffic because, in spite of its domain name, it does not rank high for iPhone 5-related keywords. however, this has not stopped Apple from taking decisive action to legally control it. Read More

A massive screen, NFC, quad-core processor, and some new bells and whistles like a fake Siri — Samsung’s GS3 seeks to deliver the goods that are on most iPhone users’ wish lists. Is the GS3 and its late-May release positioned to steal the iPhone 5′s thunder? You bet it is.

Let’s go out on a limb here: is it safe to say that Samsung has a pretty good idea of when the iPhone 5 will be released, and what kinds of features it will have? Given Samsung’s position as major supplier to some of the iPhone’s most critical components, it would stand to reason that the South Korean company knows better than most what to expect from Apple — and when to expect it.

If this is case, then there’s a lot we can infer about the new Samsung Galaxy S3: first, that it’s designed to be an iPhone 5 killer, and second, that its release date might be ultra-strategic.

According to the Mail, the GS3 sports “a large 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen running a resolution of 1280 x 720p – far bigger than Apple’s iPhone, and close in size to the smaller end of the tablet market,” as well as “a quad-core processor – similar to the ones found in many laptops, and far more powerful than the dual core found in the iPhone. The phone also includes an NFC chip – near-field-communications – allowing users to share content such as video by tapping phones together. And if you are sick of wires, a separate wireless charging kit means you can charge your phone without hooking it up to the socket.” 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

I’m on record as skeptical that we’ll see a June iPhone 5 release, and now that Apple has set the dates for the World Wide Developers Conference 2012, I’m not any closer to being convinced differently. Of course, I could be totally mistaken in my assessment, but I don’t think I am.

First, what motivation does Apple have to hustle a new iPhone model out the door? Precious little, if their just released second fiscal quarter financial results are anything to go by. iPhone sales in Q2 were up a whopping 88 percent year-over-year, and According to NetMarketshare’s Hitslink metrics for March, 2012, the iOS continues to enjoy 59.87% of the Mobile/Tablet operating system market. Why would they be in any hurry to mess with success metrics like that?

At the WWDC, to be held this year from June 11 through June 15 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, Apple says developers in attendance will lear lots of stuff about the future of iOS and OS X, but the publicized agenda doesn’t make even the slightest hint of an iPhone release, or for that matter an sort of hardware release at the conference. Again, that doesn’t mean for sure that there won’t be one, but I’m thinking the likelihood is remote. Read More

Samsung continues to maintain parity with Apple, posting big quarterly profits. But is Samsung’s claim that the Galaxy S 3 is poised for massive sales really true, or is it a play to garner attention away from iPhone 5 speculation?

In the world of tech, there should be a whole series of DVDs entitled something like iPhone Competitors’ CEOs Gone Wild. In an effort to curtail the unchallenged buzz of speculative Apple products like the iPhone 5, iTV, and Mini iPad, Cupertino’s competitors habitually say the stupidest things. You’ll recall, for example, last September when HTC President Martin Fichter proclaimed that “iPhones are not that cool anymore,” because his daughter’s friends at college told him so.

Then, in December, Nokia’s Director of Portfolio, Product Management, and Sales Niels Munksgaard had this to say, ““What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone.” Oh yeah: Apple has a real problem appealing to the youth demographic.

Today, Samsung made its own pitch for inclusion in iPhone Competitors’ CEOs Gone Wild in their quarterly earnings report by trying to convince themselves and investors that the Samsung Galaxy S 3 is going to be just as popular and successful as the iPhone 5. Read More

The overworked 2011 rumor of an “el cheap-o” iPhone Nano to accompany the full-fledged iPhone 5 has reemerged, with Asian sources claiming to have seen components for a low-cost counterpart to this year’s new iPhone offering.

For the better part of the 2011 summer, the tech media considered the notion that Apple would release two smartphones — the pro-version iPhone 5 and an el cheap-o iPhone 4S to go along with it. The iPhone 5 News Blog never really got it: having the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, and iPhone 4 (and maybe even iPhone 3GS) would be one (or to) iPhone(s) too many. Of course, in the end, we ended up with what would have been the middle grade iPhone, anyway. But at least consumers weren’t left with the conundrum of having to choose from all those iPhones.

But if we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that any iPhone 5 rumor in 2011 is fair game for 2012. And the newest regurgitated rumor is once again that the iPhone 5 will have a cheaper-priced “Nano” counterpart.

Is there anything more compelling about the el cheap-o iPhone Nano rumor this year that makes it more believable?

SlashGear reported later today, “It’s the ‘iPhone nano’ that we’re hearing about today, straight from the China Times to your doorstep. This tip comes from that continent and suppliers which remain unnamed saying that they are, indeed, creating units which point to a low-cost entry-level iPhone for the next generation iPhone 5 this fall.”

I took a look at the original China Times article via Google Translate and lost a few thousand brain cells in the process. What seems apparent is that there are absolutely no details surrounding the rumors — they are simply coming out of the manufacturing sector of China. What makes these purported iPhone units “low cost” might point to the components being used — not necessarily a smaller “nano” design that would be cheaper, much like how the rumored “Mini iPad” would be cheaper, thanks in part to a smaller screen.

SlashGear anticipates the fishiness of this rumor as being a by-product of the Mini iPad speculation, and I tend to agree: “This tip may well come right on time with the iPad Mini being tipped as well, wouldn’t you say?” I would say that making a case for a “Mini iPad” and “Nabo iPhone” — while perhaps the driving force behind these rumors — is like comparing apples and oranges. While the Mini iPad would debut into a market already inhabited by similarly sized and priced tablets, a Nano iPhone has no real analogue. Besides which, Apple has proven that it does not need to lower prices or offer lower-priced products in order to turn a buck — in the west, that is. The only possible consideration for Apple to produce a lower-priced iPhone this year in my opinion would be to cater to developing nations, who otherwise cannot afford the premium pricing of new iPhone models. But all in all, I find it highly doubtful that Apple will — or will ever — co-release a New iPhone. I expect 2012 to feature the iPhone 5, 4S, and 4, with the latter being the ultra value-priced “legacy” model.

By Michael Nace