***Official Apple Next Generation iPhone Rumor Thread***

[RePLAY]

This will be the official iPhone 5s rumor thread.  Please post any info, pix leaks you find and discuss.

 

 

I'll start it off:

 

http://kabirnews.com/iphone-5s-with-dual-led-flash-rumored-for-august-2013/4512/

 

 

Rumors suggest that Apple will release the iPhone 5S in the summer or late summer this year, and it looks like the next generation Phone will be packing a dual-LED flash in addition to a camera upgrade.a

 

We believe Apple will release the iPhone 5S instead of the iPhone 6, with minor improvements from the iPhone 5 just like it happened last year with the iPhone 4S.

The August debut date rumor comes from emsodm.com, a Chinese website and reports from AppleInsider.com. Analysts from Barclays Capital allege that Apple already placed orders with Foxconn for the iPhone 5S and could be ready for an August debut.

According to the iPhone 5S rumors the device will be capable of handling several LTE frequencies including the ones used by China Mobile. The current iPhone 5 does not support said frequencies.

Qualcomm is said to be shipping a new 4G LTE chip that supports multiple frequencies, we believe that this chip would allow Apple to manufacture a single iPhone model that would work on the most popular cell phone carriers. Qualcomm will release the next generation LTE chip in the summer of 2013, which adds credibility to the iPhone 5S summer release date.

Rumors of a dual-LED flash and a camera upgrade were spotted earlier this week, the articles suggest that Apple is planning to include them into the iPhone 5S. According to the report Apple plans to pile the LED flashes on top of each other and not side by side like in current iPhone models.

According to the reports by EMSOne, Apple plans to build a more economical iPhone and the date matches that of the iPhone 5S summer release. This new lower prices iPhone is rumored to be compatible with LTE frequencies in China, and will not be marketed in the United States.

 

[mrwicked]

the "cheap" iphone being discussed is a must. 

folks have to remember the cost of an iphone 5 for an entry-level software developer in india is 2 months salary. 2 months.

and then in places like china they barely have 3G networks let alone 4g, so adding a 4g chip and its extra cost is totally unnecessary.

 

so they will most definitely create a developing-country iphone. 

3g only, slick plastic instead of glass/aluminum, not as fancy a screen. 

add in the fact that they will be on china mobile too and you have a recipe for insane growth.

[RePLAY]

omg..cheap iPhone!?  Maybe i can finally afford one!

[mrwicked]

dont hold your breath - it will never be available in the US or western world. this is a china/india/etc play only.

and it wont be cheap quality by any means, itll still be very nicely built.

it just wont have the latest and greatest so the price wil be a bit less. 

they will take a high on their margins (which are their bread and butter) but will more than make up for it in volume.

 

if you want a cheaper iphone go get a 4 or 4s they are cheap price-wise.

[RePLAY]

bah...cant settle for 3g.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

@Gizmodo: The next iPhone is allegedly coming out in August http://t.co/nVi9PEm9ML

[nate]

omg..cheap iPhone!?  Maybe i can finally afford one!

 

Believe it or not, in other countries they have to buy phones without a provider subsidy.  (sarcasm)

 

That is why you need a cheap one.

[nate]

Also, the best source for iPhone rumors is http://www.9to5mac.com.  Any other website is a crap shoot when it comes to iPhone rumors.

[nate]

Instead of calling this a 5s thread, why don't you call it an official iPhone rumors thread.  Could do the same with other brands.  iPad, Samsung Phone, Samsung Tablet, Motorola, HTC, Nexus, etc.

[RallyMo]

iOS is stable, but incredibly boring. Seriously, Apple has settled into a nice pattern of doing nothing revolutionary or incredibly innovative. It speaks to the excellence of the product that they developed, but they're not exactly wowing anybody that's used other devices.

[nate]

I am hoping since Steve Jobs is gone as well as the VP of mobile development is also gone that they will start to innovate some more with iOS.  Mostly just widgets.  The truth is before I sold my One X and even now with my Nexus 7, the widgets are nice and the different launchers, but after the first 30 minutes of playing with it I am over them and just end up using it the same as I do on an iOS device.

 

Overall my preference for Apple comes to the quality of hardware, everything is just put together well, feels very solid, no cheap plastic feel or anything.

[RallyMo]

That's reasonable, but "feel" isn't that important to me in that sense. I want how I access the stuff on my device to reflect my preferences more than anything else, and I haaaaate how confined I feel using iOS. It feels like I'm using an iteration of my IPod with the touch wheel. I don't want that. The freedom to use other launchers is great, not because I want to change my experience all the time, but because if somebody comes up with a better way of doing things than say Google or Samsung for my purposes, I want to be able to use it.

... and people are coming up with better stuff all the time.

[HaloCory22]

iOS needs an overhaul. Its old, boring, and falling behind quickly.

[mrwicked]

yeah just call this the smartphone rumor/speculation thread.

 

as for iOS i agree the UI (which is different than the operating system itself) is a bit stale these days. but android is stale too. so is blackberry.

only windows phone is considered slick IMO. but only 8 people will buy that so it doesnt matter too much. hopefully the others push UI in the upcoming releases.

ubuntu looks rad too but thats wont be out for a while.

 

at least now that jony ive is taking over software design apple will get away from that stupid skeumorphic crap where they make apps look like real stuff - bookshelf looking like wood, notepad tearing pages, etc. so lame.

[mrwicked]

as for the "apple doesnt do anything revolutionary or innovating" i think that is bunk.

this is a company that completely revolutionized music (ipod), phone (iphone) and created an entire new tablet space (ipad). 

hell the ipad is barely 3 years old, the notion that they should be producing an entirely new revolutionary products every year or two is comical.

[RallyMo]

yeah just call this the smartphone rumor/speculation thread.

 

as for iOS i agree the UI (which is different than the operating system itself) is a bit stale these days. but android is stale too. so is blackberry.

only windows phone is considered slick IMO. but only 8 people will buy that so it doesnt matter too much. hopefully the others push UI in the upcoming releases.

ubuntu looks rad too but thats wont be out for a while.

 

at least now that jony ive is taking over software design apple will get away from that stupid skeumorphic crap where they make apps look like real stuff - bookshelf looking like wood, notepad tearing pages, etc. so lame.

 

 

as for the "apple doesnt do anything revolutionary or innovating" i think that is bunk.

this is a company that completely revolutionized music (ipod), phone (iphone) and created an entire new tablet space (ipad). 

hell the ipad is barely 3 years old, the notion that they should be producing an entirely new revolutionary products every year or two is comical.

 

It is bunk. I probably should have worded that more eloquently but I was most specifically refering to iOS and was pretty clearly not referring to what they've done in the past decade+.. They've obviously revolutionized a lot, but they've been lazy (perhaps intentionally so) when it comes to evolving iOS, most specifically on the phone side of things. Perhaps that choice is what is best for sales, loyalty and obviously continuity. iOS is incredibly stale, IMO. The current iOS isn't all that dissimilar to what they had in place six years ago. It's boring as hell, but they sell crap tons of it, so they obviously shouldn't mess with what works if it affects their bottom line.

[mrwicked]

no i totally know what you're saying. and i agree its stale - the interface is boring. 

the grid of apps is just a total waste of screen real estate, and something like windows phone/flipboard/etc with large tiles is a breath of fresh air compared.

but they have to walk a fine line - with so many users, the majority of which are not super tech savvy, it needs to be rock solid under the covers and easy/clean to use but only minimal delta between iterations.

so its not too surprising that the UI hasn't changed much over the years.

i hope they spice it up somewhat in the next release.

 

thats my primary drawback as well.

i buy the latest iphone and android every year and use them both for a week or so then keep the better of the two and return the other (might get a windows one this year too).

i dont have a super fanboy connection to iphone by any means (and i only use a handful of apps) - but ive yet to choose a non-iphone for day to day.

[RePLAY]

Sorry guys.  Since this is in a tech forum, it would be cleaner to put a thread for each specific device.  If this were in the official hangout forum, i could understand lumping phone rumors into one so we wouldn't take over the front page with different threads about specific devices.

 

I wouldnt mind a thread for "Android" or "iOS" in general.  Feel free to start one if you think that maybe better.

[nate]

Except it is March 5th and the 5S stuff is pure speculation.  Makes more sense to have an iPhone rumors thread instead of a 5S and a 6 thread and a cheap iPhone thread.

[RePLAY]

Title changed per your request.

[mrwicked]

where is the official startak rumors thread?

hard to keep with the hype on that baby.

 

<img src="http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/startac.jpg" /img>

 

we can't add basic html code anymore? 

and the bb code for img doesn't allow jpg?

[nate]

Best thing to do is just click the image button on the bottom row toward the middle and paste in the code.  or use the img BB code.

[mrwicked]

the img bb code complains about .jpg file extensions.

says thats "not allowed in this community."

lets try the fancy little image button.

 

 

[nate]

I had one of those.  It was such a big deal to have a small flip phone like that.  Had to replace that stupid little antenna a couple times.

[Tank]

I had one of those.  It was such a big deal to have a small flip phone like that.  Had to replace that stupid little antenna a couple times.

 

i was pretty excited when i found a phone that didn't have an antenna like that. loved that thing - except for the stupid yellow numbers/letters on the screen.