This definitely looks like it’s going to be a big year of iOS hardware. By all accounts, Apple is set to unveil its new iPad next week with a Retina display and LTE 4G technology. And we expect an even bigger makeover for the company’s handset line later this year.
But what about software? Last year Apple added more than 200 new features to its mobile operating system with iOS 5. So what does it have in store for the next iteration? Well whatever it is, it looks like the company is hard at work on it…
A new report from Ars Technica claims that Apple is currently testing iPad devices running a new version of iOS — iOS 6. The site uncovered the evidence in its web logs, which also show that the iPad devices are sitting in Apple’s headquarters.
“We began looking at iPad user agents coming from Apple’s corporate IP block in Cupertino and discovered that Apple appears to be surfing the Web using iPads running what looks like iOS 6.0. The whole listing shows iPads running iOS 5, iOS 5.0.1 (the current public release), iOS 5.1 (the upcoming release currently available to developers), and iOS 6. The iPads that appear to be running iOS 6 are also using a slightly newer build of WebKit—the older OSes all show WebKit 534.46, while the ones claiming to be iOS 6 show WebKit build 535.8.”
The report goes on to note that a device with a 2048×1536 display has also been turning up in the site’s web log, adding further weight to previous claims that Apple’s next tablet will have a screen with an extremely high resolution.
With iOS 5, Apple added some major features like Notification Center and iMessage. It’ll be interesting to see what the Cupertino company has in store for its next major mobile software update, which should surface sometime later this year.
What features would you like to see in iOS 6?