With WWDC right around the corner, the last, pre-summer iPhone rumors are coming in fast and strong. The latest one seems a little far fetched, but it does make some interesting claims about hardware announcements we’ll see from Apple this year.
Instead of an iPhone release this fall, Macotakara claims that the ‘iPhone 4S‘ will be released this summer, and that the iPhone 5 will be released in spring of 2012. The iPhone 4S will supposedly be a minor upgrade from the iPhone 4 (like the 3G/3GS), while the iPhone 5 will be a complete revamp. Sound crazy to you?
Macotakara is a Japanese-based Apple site that recently dropped this rumor bombshell. In the report, Macotakara references the story from a similar site, DigiTimes, about Apple shortening iPhone 4 shipment volume in anticipation of a new iPhone release very soon.
Allegedly, the iPhone 4S will be a “variant” of the iPhone 4, release this summer, and possess an A5 chip, 8 megapixel camera, support for GSM and CDMA networks, and an integrated SIM. The report from Macotakara could not confirm if the device will be single or dual core.
It was reported last month that Apple was sending iPhone ‘4S’ prototypes to developers for testing purposes. These devices supposedly had an A5 chip.
An 8 megapixel camera wouldn’t a stretch for Apple, as we’ve already heard piles of evidence for the next iPhone having an 8MP camera. Universal baseband support for both GSM and CDMA makes sense as well. If you’ll remember, a high-level Verizon exec recently spilled the beans that the next iPhone would be a “global device.”
The prospect of an integrated SIM card is a little more interesting. Macotakara is claiming that the iPhone 4S will have a SIM-less design with multiple antennas for multi-carrier support. Such an embedded SIM would allow the user to select the desired carrier and plan from the iPhone itself.
There have been recent rumblings of a change in SIM design from Apple, and the CEO of a French telecom recently said that Apple was looking at a “smaller and thinner” SIM card for future devices.
Interestingly, this report from Macotakara didn’t address the relocated LED flash that recent reports have suggested.
The specs of this rumored iPhone 4S device aren’t surprising, it’s the “summer release” part of the report that raises eyebrows. Until now, we’ve heard nothing but confirmation after confirmation that Apple will skip the typical release schedule for iPhone hardware and announce the next iPhone at an event this fall.
If Apple does in fact wait until next year for a totally redesigned iPhone, that’s great news for those that bought the iPhone 4 last year and are holding out for a big upgrade. The rest of us will have to wait and see.
WWDC will be the final word on any iPhone hardware for this summer. If there is no iPhone announcement next week, then you can bet we’ll see an iPhone release this fall.
What do you think? Does this whole ‘iPhone 4S’ business sound legit to you?
[9to5Mac, image via RazorianFly]