Following recent budget iPhone concept by Martin Hajek (itself based on nice iOS 7 mockups by 3D artist Dámaso Benítez), German blog Apfellike.de yesterday shared a similar rendition by Jürgen Ulbrich. Like many 3D artists before him, Dámaso is striving to envision what iOS 7 running on the next iPhone might look like. I’m liking his work a lot and have included a few images and a nice video mockup right after the break… Read More
BGR, the tech blog with a mixed track record, is known for occasionally leaking credible information about Apple’s upcoming products. And with the next iPhone looming on the horizon, BGR has exclusively obtained high-quality parts photos believed to depict a number of internal components for the iPhone 5S.
From what we could glean from these shots, Apple’s handset could undergo a more substantial internal overhaul than previously thought. Go past the fold for full details… Read More
The Home button has got to be one of the defining features of the iPhone’s clean rounded rectangular design. Whereas some other manufacturers add a bunch of physical buttons to their gadgets, Apple instead has moved all controls to the iOS software, leaving only the Home button on the iPhone’s face.
That could change with the iPhone 5S, the next iPhone refresh expected later this year. If a new rumor is to be believed, Apple will for the first time replace the iPhone’s Home button – prone to failure after long periods of use – with its capacitive counterpart.
This isn’t new: many Android handsets have touch-enabled “buttons” like Samsung’s Galaxy S series, for example. Apple’s innovation, the story goes, involves using sapphire crystal to prevent scratches and dings and protect the integrated fingerprint sensor… Read More
In a tell-tale sign that passwords had had their day in the sun, PayPal CISO Michael Barrett took the stage at Interpo today to spell doom for existing verification methods, predicting that more robust authentication protocols based on an open standard will replace passwords. While two-step verification can bolster account security – Apple recently enabled it for Apple ID accounts – PayPal alludes that secure authentication technologies said to make their way into Apple’s next iPhone may announce the impending end of passwords… Read More
As WWDC 2013 draws near – and with supply chain increasingly pointing to Apple’s procurement of components for production of a next-generation iPhone – small wonder various parts are now cropping up on the web. It’s the very nature of the game: Apple just can’t control each and every one of its suppliers in Taiwan and China, let alone their individual employees.
A Japanese parts retailer, which recently leaked a next-gen iPhone components, is back at it, having published Thursday an image believed to depict a motherboard component, presumably belonging to an upcoming iPhone refresh… Read More
A well-known Wall Street Apple observer expects Apple’s manufacturing partners to start producing multiple new iPhone models in June or July, with the new smartphones introduced around September.
While the analyst note meshes with today’s report of Sharp gearing up to begin mass production of the iPhone 5S screens next month and other reports mentioning multiple iPhones on Apple’s roadmap, what’s perhaps most interesting is word that any drop-off in iPhone demand seems to be over.
And in her additional remarks bolstered by others, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty tells investors Wednesday that Apple could sell many iPhones in China even if the device were not priced cheaply… Read More
Tim Cook caused quite a bit of commotion last week when he told investors that Apple “has some amazing new hardware, software, and services coming this fall.” Most folks took it as we aren’t going to see anything new from the company until then.
But that may not be the case, according to a purported leaked document from Japanese wireless carrier KDDI. The internal note, meant for sales floor staff, offers up plan pricing information and some details about the upcoming iPhone 5S smartphone… Read More
Apple’s iPhone 5 is now almost seven months old so fans are expectedly setting their sights on a next-gen model, the iPhone 5S. And as we’re heading toward summer, new evidence indicates Apple is now lining up its Asian suppliers to source parts ahead of the actual manufacturing phase.
This could explain why we’re increasingly seeing supposedly genuine parts cropping up all over Asia, such as this Home buttons and vibrator motors. Today’s leak by Japanese parts shop Moumantai is thought to represent a SIM tray for the iPhone 5S.
It’s exactly the same in shape and size to the Nano SIM trays used on the current iPhone 5, with one exception: the leaked ones are in gray and gold colors. This matches up nicely with reports of a colorized iPhone 5S, mostly sourced from analyst reports and supply chain people… Read More
Apple’s perfectionism is legendary. Good enough just doesn’t cut it for a company whose exacting demands often drive its suppliers and manufacturing partners crazy. This even includes construction companies tasked with building Apple’s upcoming iSpaceship campus with four times narrower gaps between surfaces versus the U.S. construction standard.
We learned earlier this morning that Apple may have returned up to eight million iPhones to Foxconn, apparently because the unites were not fit for sale, potentially costing the contract manufacturer north of $1 billion to make replacements. In fact, Apple’s hard-to-meet standard and various manufacturing challenges could reportedly delay the next wave of iDevice upgrades until Fall.
And today comes another confirmation that Apple won’t launch the iPhone 5S this summer because it is still trying out various coating materials in the hope of finding one that won’t interfere with the handset’s fingerprint sensor… Read More
Monday, a report out of Vietnam shed new light on an aspect of the next iPhone that hasn’t received much attention yet: the camera subsystem. First piece of the puzzle points to Apple engineers upgrading photo quality by putting a notably higher-resolution camera module inside the iPhone 5S, one that features a thirteen megapixel CMOS sensor instead of “just” eight megapixels on the iPhone 5/4S.
The other tidbit mentions an improved night shooting feature as well as an enhanced HDR mode allowing for even higher intensity levels and more realistic colors when snapping up images in extreme lighting conditions such as direct sunlight or faint starlight… Read More
Hon Hai Precision Industry aka Foxconn, which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple, but also consumer electronics on behalf of other vendors, has started hiring assembly-line workers in the tens of thousands in preparation for Apple’s next iPhone, both Bloomberg and the credulous Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
People familiar with the matter tell the publications that the world’s largest contract manufacturer has been recruiting workers for the past month at its plant in Zhengzhou, eastern China.
The reports come following February indications pointing to Foxconn imposing a recruitment freeze across almost all of its factories in China after more workers returned from the Chinese New Year break than did last year, a move some attributed to the supposedly weakening iPhone demand… Read More
Most analysts tend to pull their predictions out of thin air. We were cagey about last month’s Morgan Stanley report as it rather cryptically asserts Apple’s next iPhone, the iPhone 5S, will have a “killer feature.” Of course it will, stupid – every iPhone has at least one standout feature cunningly designed to convince existing users to upgrade.
The iPhone 3G had 3G networking, the iPhone 3GS had video, the iPhone 4 had the stunning form factor and Retina display and the iPhone 4S had Siri.
As for the current iPhone 5, it of course offers LTE and sports the dramatic two-tone design akin to a finely crafted watch. According to a rather reliable analyst, this year’s S-upgrade to Apple’s handset will have fingerprint scanning as an exclusive feature… Read More
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who actually has a pretty good track record in predicting Apple’s product plans, has some bad news for Apple fans. In a note issued to clients Thursday, he basically wrote that Apple’s next batch of iDevice upgrades may hit the market later than originally expected due to a number of “technical challenges” related to the inclusion of fingerprint sensor beneath the Home button.
The rumored budget iPhone may be delayed because its slimmer-than-usual polycarbonate casing is proving harder nut to crack, while the second-generation iPad mini continues to face challenges with its high-resolution Retina panels. Jump past the fold for the full disclosure… Read More
The next-generation iPhone, believed to be the iPhone 5S, is widely expected to land sometime this summer. This, despite the fact that the iPhone 5 just came out in September of last year, and Apple typically waits at least 12 months to update its handset.
And another report is out today in support of that theory. This one comes from the Japanese blog Macotakara, who cites sources familiar with Apple’s plans, in claims that both the iPhone 5S and rumored budget iPhone are going to be announced in July… Read More
Apple’s rumored S-upgrade to its iPhone, the iPhone 5S, is assumed to arrive some time during summer, possibly shortly after Apple presumably announces it at its annual developers conference in June or July (the company hasn’t yet set the date for WWDC 2013). One analyst in a note issued to clients Tuesday wrote that supply chatter points to multiple screen sizes for the iPhone 5S in order to appeal to consumers who dig jumbo-sized handsets and improve its standing in the market… Read More
Last summer, Apple acquired AuthenTec, a Florida-based smart sensor company known for its embedded security and identity management technology. The news of the acquisition has sparked speculation that we will see fingerprint sensors in future iOS devices.
And Apple itself is adding fuel to that fire today, with a new job listing posted on its website. Apparently the Cupertino company is looking for a software engineer to join its team of fingerprint sensor engineers down in Melbourne, Florida at AuthenTec’s headquarters… Read More
Former ad man and longtime Apple consultant Ken Segall has been very critical of his old company in recent months. And he continues that trend with a new blog post called ‘iPhone naming: when simple gets complicated.’
In the post, Segall argues that Apple screwed up the way it names its handsets—particularly on the ‘S’ models. He says that iPhones marked with an ‘S’ not only look awkward, but also send a weak message to consumers… Read More
What voice-recognition did for the iPhone 4S, fingerprints will do for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5S, one technology analyst is telling investors. For the second time, an Apple observer forecasts a fingerprint sensor as a key feature of a new iPhone expected this summer. Such a sensor would let iPhone 5S owners use their fingerprints instead of passwords, as well as open the possibility of mobile credit card payments, according to a Wednesday report… Read More
While we’ve heard plenty of chatter regarding the next-generation iPhone, we’ve heard next to nothing about the next version of iOS. Until today, that is. New information concerning iOS 7 popped up this afternoon in an interesting Branch thread.
The conversation consisted of several well-known Apple Insiders, including iMore’s Rene Ritchie and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. And according to their sources, iOS is set to receive a system-wide UI overhaul this year, if it ever gets finished… Read More
We’ve heard an unusual amount of chatter regarding the next generation iPhone over the past few months. Especially since the iPhone 5 just launched 6 months ago. But folks seem pretty certain that Apple’s next smartphone isn’t too far off.
And a new report out this morning echoes that sentiment. Citing “people familiar with the device’s production,” The Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is ramping up production of its new iPhone this quarter ahead of a likely summer launch… Read More
