Apple preparing to ship thinner, lighter iPhone 5?
It's not the wink-wink, nudge-nudge controlled leak we've come to expect from The Wall Street Journal, but according to their supply chain sources "familiar with the situation", iPhone 5 might indeed have a new casing:
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.
Though not the Qualcomm chips that run on LTE, as those aren't expected to be small and power-efficient enough until 2012. The WSJ is also rumoring that Apple intends to manufacture 25 million of them. That is, if manufacturers can produce them fast enough. Despite Apple having nearly $70 billion in the bank, enough to finance factories, get cut rate prices, and lock their competition out of next-generation production techniques and components, they've struggled to produce enough iPad, iPhone 4, and iPad 2 units to meet the skyrocketing demand.
That, and not making a wafer-thin, anti-gravity iPhone is going to be the key problem for Apple to solve moving forward.
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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Ok now seriously jazzed about this. Can I haz my Iphone5 NOW!
Thinner and lighter... Now there's something different for Apple. Who would have ever guessed this one?
damn...i wont be eligible for a new iphone yet....grrrr! They need to allow us to get a new one at contract pricing every time they release one!
Nothing on the screen size? C'mon, bigger screen already.
We don't need a bigger screen! Thats one thing I hate about android phone's the phone is so big! Also bigger screen means more charging time for your battery.
Disagree, i'm not talking about 4.3 inch but a 4 inch with a tiny larger case would be the perfect size for me
A 4 inch wouldn't even require increasing the case size, though it would likely interfere with their making each generation thinner until it collapses under its own weight to create a black hole.
My EVO fits in my front pocket just fine. As for battery life, I bought 2 extra batteries and a battery wallcharger (you can charge the battery without being in the phone) on Ebay for $10. So all I have to do is take an extra battery with me if I won't be able to charge up and I can watch my iPhone friends get jealous as they have to plug in their phone to charge and I just have to pop in a new battery.
According to a monkey in a tree Apple will reportedly ship a new iPhone 5 this fall that has better battery life then the the current iPhone 4. Stay tuned for more details!
i'm with you. Same screen size and thinner, with the processor of iPad 2 is not worth the upgrade. i doubt the updating will be that meager, however. They have had a few extra months to come up with something better. Hopefully there will be more than 1 model this time around. I will forgo retina for more screen size.
YES!!! Bring on a 4 inch screen! (just keep the phone dimensions the same)
Dangit! I was going to skip a generation for the first time ever and wait for iPhone 6 LTE as the iPhone 4 is phenomenal. But now I don't know if I can do that!
Not exactly a 'stop the presses' news announcement.
Anyway, my wife will be happy as she's due for the upgrade this year. I could technically upgrade around year's end, but I'm very pleased with the Iphone 4. I don't see a need to replace that anytime soon.
Do we need something thinner and lighter?! Personally I like the solid feel of the iPhone 4 - and the original iPad - We have an iPad 2 in the house, but I actually bought myself an original iPad (after the iPad 2 launched) to use every day because I prefer the more solid feel of the thicker design and squared off edge compared to the iPad 2 design, which somehow doesn't really seem to look 'right'. Frankly there isn't much difference between the two if you don't need a camera, I wouldn't say the iPad 2 was significantly better than the original iPad in everyday use.
I'll buy an iPhone 5 anyway for development work, and because my contract renewal times in nicely with Apple's yearly releases, but I have a feeling that it's not going to be the significant upgrade that the iPhone 4 was over the 3GS. iOS 5 is significantly better than iOS 4, but I'm already running that on the iPhone 4, so not a reason to necessarily buy new hardware if you already have an iPhone 4.
I'm sorry WSJ, but you have stated an obvious progression.
Apple, know that for the average user they perceive an advance as a product becoming lighter, thinner, faster.
I would say right now that just by switching to the same form factor as the iPad2 it immediately makes the phone thinner and lighter. Using the A5 processor will make it faster.
For Apple they could advance to the slightly larger screen size and even make a single device that works on both HSPA and CDMA with the phone being a World phone which is what Verizon blurted out a few weeks ago and still have a lighter phone simply by switching away from the glass back and external antenna. Not only that they can cheerfully use the ability to run on either network standard as a way to move away from the external antenna and not been seen as backing down or making an admission that the external antennae round the side was more prone to attenuation that internal antennae.
Also by making a single phone that works on both wireless standards it would reduce production costs by allowing all the factories to make the same phone.
I would say as well that if there is an Ipad3 launch at the same time it would be made to the same specification ie, that they only produce a WiFi and a CDMA/HSPA/WiFi combined unit reducing the amount of production and tooling required to a minimum for the iPad as well.
Tomorrow someone will release a better story with a better "source" claiming that the next one will be a 4s version.
I think it's time to put a moratorium on all these baseless rumors.
for me it does not matter if its thin or not .. the new one has to be at least 4 inches and LTE .. if not then i am going to seriously start considering getting a Android or Windows phone on Verizon.
Others may think differently this are my opinions.
and i respect your opinion but you should start browsing for androids right now since the next iphone wont have LTE... i hope the 4 inch screen makes it though..
When are paper-thin disposable phones coming?
Thrive been developed, but aren't making it into mainstream, because it's hard to make a paper-thin touchscreen, so the made it controllable through gestures by folding the paper(lol awesome!!!) google it.
I'd be in favor of a bigger screen (at similar case dimensions; i.e. smaller bezel). Thinner? Good grief. Only reason to build a thinner iPhone is to add a sliding keyboard to it. Otherwise, it is thin enough! Without a bumper or case, the iPhone 4 is already so thin it's hard to pick up off a smooth, flat surface like a table or desk without sliding it to the edge.