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| Could The “S” in iPhone 4S Stand For Sprint? Posted: 11 Jun 2011 07:37 AM PDT
The rumor mills are abuzz this weekend with speculation that Apple engineers are working to get an LTE-supporting iPhone 4S model ready for Sprint while the ramp-up to iPhone 5 production for AT&T and Verizon continues. According to TalkAndroid.com, the Sprint iPhone will carry a data charge of $89.99 instead of $69.99 a month, with T-Mobile to also get an iPhone in line with Sprint. Meanwhile, 9To5Mac reportsthat sources tell them that a version of the iPhone 4 for Sprint's network is currently in advanced testing both by Apple's "black labs," and Sprint's research and development department, with Apple having ordered Sprint-compatible cell towers installed on their campus at Cupertino for testing in late 2010 and established a cellular engineering team near Sprint’s headquarters in the Kansas City MO area near Overland Park, Kansas, and that this might become an iPhone 4S device with support for all carriers. The article notes further that “talk of a 4G variant of the iPhone for Sprint” is also underway, but but the first generation Sprint iPhone 4 currently in the testing phase does not support 4G which may have to wait until 2012, but all they can say they know for reasonably certain is that all we know is that a Sprint iPhone 4 is in testing and Apple ordered those Sprint cell towers. Computerworld’s Matt Hamblen weighs in also affirming that- Sprint is in advanced testing of an iPhone that would be called the iPhone 4S possibly for sale this fall, and suggesting that it would run at first on a CDMA-based 3G wireless network rather than on Sprint’s faster WiMax, another version supporting the latter to come later, although Hamblen thinks it more likely that Sprint would go with LTE wireless and an LTE-ready iPhone, Hamblen also notes that in May BusinessInsider.com cited Jeffries analyst Peter Misek saying that the iPhone 4S would have the A5 dual-core processor from the iPad 2 and work with the networks of Sprint, T-Mobile USA and China Mobile; and also HSPA+ capable (T-Mobile), although not WiMax-ready. He contends that Releasing an iPhone 4S on 3G/CDMA would give Sprint the iPhone quickly while allowing more time for Sprint to get ready to support an LTE-ready iPhone – more likely a variant of the iPhone 5, while others maintain that an LTE iPhone won’t come until the iPhone 6 or some future variant, leaving the iPhone 5 to support the iOS 5 enhancements that Apple announced Monday. The Register’s Rik Myslewski says that if you’re impatiently waiting for a 4G LTE iPhone 5, you may only have to wait until this fall – and move to the United Arab Emirates. Or not. Myslewski cites UAE wireless carrier Etisalat spokesman Ali Al Ahmad telling GulfNews.com: “Yes, we are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year…. As the first telecom organization to roll out the 4G network, LTE, in the Middle East, “we have already started talking to them for the handsets and chipsets in them.” Myslewski is skeptical, however, and submits that what Apple might be telling them could very well be: “GSM or CDMA – your call,” noting that recent rumors have moved the LTE iPhone 5 launch into 2012 due to yield problems experienced by LTE chip supplier Qualcomm, although Etisalat’s LTE network is still on track to go live in Q3 2011. He further notes that Far East market-watchers at DigiTimes have been hearing from anonymous industry sources that Apple is likely to delay the launch of LTE-enabled iPhones to 2012, and that Telecom Pragmatics Sam Greenholtz told The Street earlier this year that “people close to the matter” have told him an LTE iPhone was targeted for a June/July 2012 launch, Apple’s COO and acting CEO Tim Cook also having said during the company’s Q2-financials conference call in April that “the first generation of LTE chipsets forced a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not we are just not willing to make.” According to Appleinsider’s Josh Ong, a new MacOtakara report is saying Apple plans to base a “iPhone 4S” off the CDMA iPhone 4 for Verizon Wireless, adding hybrid GSM-CDMA functionality and a SIM card slot “for countries except United States,” and that this iPhone 4S will have a “more narrow front receiver slit” and a smaller FaceTime camera hole as well as an antenna for the 5Ghz wavelength of 802.11n wireless networking. Ong also says the next-generation iPhone, variously called in in rumors iPhone 4S or iPhone 5, is expected to begin production in August for a September or October release, but if such a fall model refresh materializes, “numerous sources” have indicated that it will have only “slight modifications” from the iPhone 4 form factor, but get the dual-core A5 chip used in the iPad 2 and a 8-megapixel camera with sensors from Omnivision. |
| Posted: 11 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT
As WWDC 2011 draws to a close, the expectation of an iPhone 5 is now completely dead; A credible source in Asia indicates that Apple components suppliers’ production lines are still silent. Read how the iPhone 5 News Blog’s early prediction of a September release still remains viable. As the final minutes of the WWDC ticked down on Friday, the grim reality set in for iPhone 5 devoteés that there would be no traditional June announcement for this year’s iPhone iteration — a jarring, disconcerting change of pace for many committed Apple customers who essentially plan their iPhone buying schedule around Cupertino’s typically clockwork iPhone release schedule. Back on January 8th, the iPhone 5 News Blog, along with most of the committed readers and commenters here, predicted a late Summer release for the iPhone 5 that would skip the WWDC, making us not only the first news blog committed to covering the iPhone 5, but also the first to make this bold prediction. Reuters, along with a gaggle of other tech news agencies, joined us in that logic starting in April. For as much as it feels good to be right (or in this case, to be on a trajectory towards being right — alas, the iPhone 5 could technically debut in 2012 as some folks have postulated), it’s safe to say that many of us who imagine a late Summer release of the iPhone 5 were hoping to be wrong, looking forward to the possibility of a surprise iPhone announcement from iPhone yogi, Steve Jobs. There are, however, plenty of positive developments for the iPhone 5 at this year’s WWDC: in spite of the fact that the device itself was not even mentioned, the advent of iOS 5 and iCloud, together with the establishment of the A5 chip in this year’s iPad 2, give us a faint, mythic impression of the fabled iPhone 5 — a kind of shadowy monolith that, by way of deductive reasoning and reverse-engineering of what we’re seeing from iOS 5, begins to paint an exciting picture of how this year’s iPhone might really wow us in the end. Many iPhone 5′ers were hoping that Steve Jobs would allude to the iPhone 5 in passing — a hope that was never really plausible — but in a sense, the new operating system and iCloud does this implicitly. Asian Source: iPhone 5 Production Silent The iPhone 5 News Blog has learned from a credible source in Asia that there is no indication of any components production for the iPhone 5 thus far. As lead columnist Charles Moore indicated yesterday, Apple has awarded iPhone 5 component supplier contracts. Our source, a top-level marketing executive for an Asian electronics accessories company, corroborates this on the other end of the story by confirming to us that her manufacturing contacts in China still have no indication that components are being manufactured for the iPhone 5. Electronics accessories manufacturers in Asia often secure early specs and news on future Apple devices so that they can gain a competitive edge in being first to market with new cases and accessories, sometimes with serious consequences, as reported in another article about Foxconn leaking specs of the iPad 2. Our source also said that manufacturing contacts in Asia are led to believe that the iPhone 5 will not feature a radical change in form factor, a key piece of data for any electronics accessory designer who is trying to determine what changes will need to be made to existing iPhone case designs in order to keep up with the next iPhone’s new specs. Although it seems clear that production has not ramped up for the iPhone 5, the good news is that it won’t take nearly as long as one might think for Apple to gear up for a September release of the iPhone 5. And if Apple opts to make minimal changes to the iPHone 5′s form factor, that will even further facilitate speedy production. |
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