iPhone 5

German carrier announces new iPhone coming in September

While the September unveil and launch date for the new iPhone has been all-but-confirmed by a number of news outlets, Apple has still yet to officially make the call. And it may not for another two weeks.

But that didn't stop German wireless carrier Mobilecom Debitel from sending out an announcement to its subscribers today, claiming that Apple's latest smartphone will indeed go on sale next month...

Concept shows what Apple’s 30-pin adapter could look like

Of all the things we think we know about Apple's next smartphone, a smaller dock connector seems to be one of the most certain. After several years, it appears Apple is finally prepared to ditch its trusty 30-pin design in favor of a smaller solution.

And this has a lot of folks nervous. The aftermarket for 30-pin-style accessories has to be one of the largest in the business. And we've all got loads of iPhone chargers and docks that could become useless as of next month. Or will they?

New photos of next-gen iPhone dock assembly fitted in rear shell

Despite the fact that we've seen a number of matching next-gen iPhone parts, from several different sources, some folks still maintain their skepticism on their legitimacy.

If you happen to be one of those people, check this out. The photo above is of one of the previously leaked dock connector/headphone jack assemblies, fitted into the frame and rear shell of what is believed to be the new iPhone...

The time is ripe to sell your old iPhone

Apple is expected to unveil its latest smartphone next month on September 12. And though the handset won't launch until the 21st, pre-orders for the device are said to begin the same day.

For those of you who plan on selling your old iPhone to help pay for the new one, that gives you around three weeks to do so. But according to resell data, you may not want to wait that long...

Photos of complete next-gen iPhone front panel surface

The amount of claimed leaked next-generation iPhone parts we're seeing is starting to get out of control. Yesterday we saw a purported dock connector for the handset, and now this.

The above photo is of what's believed to be a complete front panel belonging to Apple's next smartphone. It has the rumored elongated display, and a repositioned FaceTime camera...

More photos of claimed iPad mini and new iPhone parts

More photos of components believed to belong to the new iPhone and rumored iPad mini have surfaced this afternoon. The images come on the heels of a string of recent part leaks.

The pieces in the photo are said to be the dock connectors from both devices, along with their headphone jacks and flex cables. And they offer up some new details about the gadgets...

Poll: is the next iPhone going to be world-phone LTE compatible?

Less than four weeks from Apple's September 12 iPhone 5 event, U.S. carriers continue aggressive deployment of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology, making it all too easy to get carried away with the wonders of high-speed 4G networking on the next iPhone.

After all, 4G is thought to be one of the headline features of the device. On the other hand, this is going to be the first iPhone ever to have 4G, meaning some limitations and teething problems are likely to be expected, as is always the case with first-gen everything from Apple.

Regular users will probably assume that just because the next iPhone is 4G LTE, it's gonna work on whatever carrier's fourth-generation LTE network. That may not be the case and if the third-generation iPad is an indication, the iPhone 5 could disappoint some international users with limited support for LTE frequency bands.

That being said, we're asking you to take a long and hard look at the current state of technology and vote on the kind of LTE support you think the iPhone 5 will have...

Video comparison of the iPhone 5 Nano SIM tray and buttons to the iPhone 4S

You've by now seen gorgeous iPhone 5 renders based on a bunch of parts (that continue to leak out of Asia like there's no tomorrow), like a miniaturized Nano SIM tray and a slightly smaller home button.

Repair firm SmartPhone Medic took it all together and created a video that aims to compare the new Nano SIM tray to the Micro SIM standard found on the iPhone 4/4S.

It also puts other purported parts in direct comparison to their iPhone 4S counterparts, namely the volume buttons, the mute switch and the sleep/wake button...

Verizon’s LTE network will soon cover 2/3 of US population

Verizon just announced that it's going to flip the LTE switch on in 34 new markets tomorrow, and will also be expanding its 4G coverage in another 38.

We'll get to the new markets in a moment, but perhaps more interesting is the milestone. After tomorrow's rollout, Verizon's LTE network will be in more than 370 markets, blanketing close to two-thirds of the the country's population...

The big question looms: does iPhone 5 have world support for numerous LTE bands?

iDB first discovered traces of high-speed fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular networking in iOS 5.1 code. Since then, multiple code hooks, hardware hints and credible sources have all but confirmed the industry's worst kept secret, that the next iPhone is widely expected to work over 4G LTE networks.

But is it going to be a worldphone in respect to 4G? What if it doesn't support a variety of LTE frequencies in use today? A new report from South Korea alleges that local telcos have been attempting to talk Apple into supporting the 1.8-gigahertz LTE frequency used in the country. This implies that the iPhone 5 may not support the numerous 4G frequencies in use across the world...

Fake iPhone 5 screws get a Joy of Tech treatment

News of Apple working on special screws for the next iPhone with asymmetric heads to prevent tampering spread like wildfire across the blogosphere. It wasn't that the made-up story was attributed to a particularly credible source, not at all. At least on the surface, the report came across as perfectly plausible.

After all, Apple did switch to Pentalobular screws for the iPhone 4, provoking an outrage from repair experts iFixit. As you know, the story was exposed as an elaborate hoax by a Swedish design shop Day4, a case study of sorts on how sticky crazy Apple rumors really are.

Joy of Tech, a webcomic created by Canada-born Liza Schmalcel and Bruce Evans, has a funny take on the short-lived iPhone 5 screws meme, see it right below...

Apple granted patent for rumored in-cell display tech

Among the many changes we're expecting to see in Apple's new smartphone, one of them is a reduction in thickness. The new handset is said to be noticeably thinner than its predecessor.

So how is Apple going to pull this off while still adding things like LTE and a larger display? By doing things like reducing the size of the charging port, and using in-cell touchscreen tech...