TechFruit

Coming back from Easter seems as good a time as any to get to grips with all the rumours and gossip surrounding the next generation Apple iPhone 5 which should be arriving within the next few months. With Nokia releasing the flagship Windows Phone 7.5-running Lumia 900, HTC just releasing the wonderful One X, and Samsung on the verge of releasing the Galaxy S3 – what has Apple got up its sleeve to compete?

Display

There is a limit to the improvements that Apple can bring to the table with the same 3.5″ retina display that has been on the iPhone 4 and 4S. It would be a good bet, then that Apple may be pushing the screen size up to around 4″. A display that size could still fit within a phone body around the same size as previous iPhones which remain the most comfortable size to hold.

Connectivity

Those of us in Europe may still only have 3G available (even here in London), but 4G is now pretty widespread in the US and a new iPhone not taking advantage of those increased speeds would be asking for negative comparisons with its Android and WP7 counterparts. The iPad already has a 4G chip, so putting that same SoC inside the iPhone 5 is very likely.
Android smartphones have had NFC for a while now, and Apple will need to offer the same mobile payments technoliogy within the next iPhone in order to compete with Google Wallet.
To step away from the pack and to coincide with the launch of the rumoured Apple TV, Apple may have created their own HD streaming standard that will work over the wireless 802.11n standard. There is no need to build a separate wireless protocol from scratch, but Apple may have created a proprietary HD streaming service that would link together its iPhones, iPads, and future devices with a large-screened Apple TV.

CPU and SoC

The next iPhone will likely be playing catchup with the new iPad 3 in terms of its chipset – with the phone packing the same A5X SoC. This will give the phone a huge quad-core graphics boost and put it up there with the other smartphones around that are running Tegra 3 or the new Samsung Exynos that will be in the Samsung Galaxy S3. This chip is built by Samsung too.

Battery

The iPad 3 had to fit in a bigger and better battery in order to power that huge new retina display and improved graphics chip, and the iPhone 5 will likely need to do the same. This will add a little bit of weight to the phone, but nothing too much – what will be interesting is how Apple fit in the bigger size – expect some more curves to make the bigger size fit more comfortably in the hand.

The news of the latest iPad may have only just died down, but gossip about the iPhone 5 is coming quick and fast. This time, Reuters are claiming that the next iPhone (most likely the iPhone 5) may be sporting a pretty massive 4.6″ display citing suppliers as their source – so probably LG, Sharp, or Samsung. A screen of that size would put it up there with the biggest of them and would make the whole phone pretty difficult to handle for all but those with the biggest paws.

What is far more likely is Apple bumping the size to something like 4″, which would be a nice increase on the iPhone’s current 3.5″ display, but could in theory be fitted into a body of about the same size with a good bit of fiddling and effectively no bezel. To be honest, it is about time a manufacturer dropped the bezel completely from their phones. Yes an area around the edge would need to avoid being touch sensitive to avoid accidental touches, but that doesn;t mean that part of the screen cannot display content. The size of the iPhone fits neatly in the hand, with the old iPhone 3GS still the most comfortable smartphone to hold in my opinion with its size and curved back – lets just make it thinner, lighter, and bezel-free shall we, Apple?

A rumour that has more weight to it about the iPhone 5 is the addition of 4G LTE connectivity which will bring the next iPhone up to its Android competitors in terms of connection speed – something it is currently lagging behind quite considerably.

In October 2011 the iPhone 4S snatched 42.8 percent share of the UK market for new sales, and scored an equally impressive 96 percent satisfaction rate over in the States. However, given the poor reaction to the company’s latest iDevice and the handset’s lacklustre features, can this popularity really last, or did Apple just hand market domination to Android?

Leading up to Apple’s latest smartphone launch, the blogosphere was rife with murmurs of a 4-inch screened iPhone 5, complete with a ridiculously-impressive rear-facing camera and built-in NFC technology. And we were excited.

At the latest minute, the tech world learnt that – despite a daily slew of exciting new rumours – the company was in fact preparing the iPhone 4S all along, essentially a faster, smarter iPhone 4. Sure, it has a better camera and great voice recognition – but it is, as Tim Cook all but admitted, merely an iPhone 4 with more advanced innards. Even they aren’t that impressive, with its processor clocking in at 800MHz.

“It’s been 16 months and all you’ve got is an A5 processor in the existing iPhone 4,” BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said of the new Apple phone.

The iPhone 4S launch was the first time Apple broke their yearly tradition of under-promising and over-delivering, and despite selling 4 million handsets in one weekend – fans, and the tech world, were all left feeling a bit underwhelmed.

Why? Because the iPhone 4S doesn’t have the “wow” factor, unlike its rivals – such as the 4.3-inch-screened Samsung Galaxy S2 and HTC Sensation, which packs 1.2GHz dual-core processors and screen’s which are finally rivalling the Retina Display. The iPhone 4S still arrives with its small 3.5-inch touchscreen in tow, equal to only the mid-range HTC Desire S and Samsung Galaxy Ace handsets.

Android has been inching closer to iOS on many points, and now Google has a chance to leapfrog Cupertino, seen as Apple has already outed its strategy for the 12 months. Over the next year, Android will continue to creep up on Apple until all the important specs are bettered by the majority of Android devices.

“Apple no longer has a leading edge, its cloud service is even behind Android; it can only sell on brand loyalty now,” said Gartner analyst C.K. Lu in Taipei.

Saying that, rumours are already hotting up about next-year’s iDevice, which could finally see the unveiling of the iPhone 5. The phone that – 24 months prior to its announcement – had iFans drooling at the prospect of its release. Unlike the iPhone 4S – as witnessed through the transition from the iPhone 3G and 3GS – this phone will be a completely new model, and could well sport that 4-inch touchscreen and new multi-touch home button we’d all been hoping for the first time around.

The question is, will people be able to wait another agonising 12 months for the larger-screen and exciting new features, or will the next Samsung Galaxy device – no doubt with its mind-blowing display and quad-core innards – be the nail in the coffin?

Only time will tell.

You only have to wait until 6pm (BST) to find out what Apple has in store for us as the next iPhone – whether that be an iPhone 5, an iPhone 4S, or both. But for those of you that can’t get enough of the rumours and speculation that surrounds these releases, we’ve got a round up of what you might be expecting in a few hours.

Hardware

Size and Shape:

All signs point to a relatively similar design to the iPhone 4, but slightly thinner and also likely a bit bigger to accommodate a bigger display.

Screen:

Signs point towards a larger 4″ screen coming to the iPhone 5 along with the retina display 326 PPI. An iPhone 4S may keep the same iPhone 4 screen though.

Camera:

Upping the megapixels is a standard upgrade for each iPhone iteration, and an iPhone 5 will probably offer an 8 or 10MP back camera, possibly with the ability to shoot 1080p full HD video.

CPU:

All signs point towards the iPhone CPU being upgraded to the same 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 chip currently found in the iPad 2 with the ability to play 1080p video with ease. But this may even get a bump to 1.2 GHz to keep in line with offerings from competitors like Samsung and HTC.

4G/LTE:

With 4G/LTE networks still relatively rare across the globe, and the 4G chips serious battery suckers – it is unlikely the iPhone 5 will see 4G technology, but you can never count it out.

NFC (Digital Wallet):

Even more so than 4G, Near Field Communication (NFC) is only available in very very limited places. The technology could be useful, but it will likely be added to the iPhone in future generations.

Software

iOS 5:

The latest incarnation of iOS will be coming to older model iPhones as well, but offers a host of improvements including over the air (OTA) syncing and updates, as well as integration with Twitter and Apple’s forthcoming iCloud service.

iCloud:

Apple’s cloud service that will enable iPhone users to stream their music from the cloud without fees as well as offer syncing, backup and other cloud integration tools.

Assistant:

Possibly the most interesting completely new addition to the iPhone 5 will be Assitant, which is the culmination of Apple’s purchase of the Siri artificial intelligence engine last year. It can do everything from finding a restaurant in your local vicinity, to booking a table, and ordering a taxi home all with a couple of voice commands. And it learns as you go along – see the video below:

Price

Always a difficult one to judge, but any iPhone 5 is likely to cost roughly the same as a current iPhone 4 (so don’t expect it much cheaper than free on a £45/month 28 or 24 month tariff). However, if Apple brings out a cut down iPhone 4S or even an iPhone Nano then this should be extremely competitively priced against similar Android models – look for it for free on a £25 or £30/month tariff.

Interested in the latest mobile phones? Why not check out our Buyers’ Guide to 2012 Smartphones >>

The iPod is ten years old and has come along way – branching out into smaller devices (the Nano and the Shuffle), touchscreen devices (the Touch and the iPhone), and adding capacity (the Classic) – all of which have helped to turn Apple around as a company.

But TUAW are claiming that the iPod Classic and Shuffle are going the way of the dodo sooner rather than later as part of their “product transition”. The disappearance of the Classic seems likely as it didn’t get any form of an upgrade last year and has pretty much been replaced by the Touch, and as that gets more storage there is little reason to keep selling the Classic.

The Shuffle, however, is a different story. It offers Apple a way to get consumers into their iTunes ecosystem for just $49 – from which they can sell music, tv, or films or more importantly upsell their other devices. How many people do you think start with a Shuffle but then upgrade to an iPod Touch or an iPhone once they get the money as they have seen Apple’s seamless integration? To remove that low barrier to entry seems an odd move from the Cupertino-based company.

Many people also use the Shuffle in the gym for both its cost (it doesn;t matter so much if you drop/break it) and its very light weight design. I am not saying that the Shuffle itself will stay (and I don’t have access to TUAW’s unnamed source), but if it is replaced I believe Apple will replace it with a another model for a similar price and with a similar size.

9to5Mac is claiming that if Apple introduces a low cost iPhone that is free on contract then that will preclude the need for a Shuffle, but I’m not so sure. iPhones have been free on contract in the UK for years and that has not slowed the sales of the Shuffle – it is in a completely different product category. The Shuffle is seen as a risk-free way for someone to get on the Apple ladder, an almost disposable music product that still manages to have some of that Apple caché. Unless a new iPhone Nano is offered on tariffs as low as £15/month I really don’t see the markets of the two products overlapping at all, and even then there would still be a market for the Shuffle all be it a little smaller.

We will see on October 4th whether any of these claims and predictions are true I suppose.

As had previously been reported, Apple has finally announced October 4th (next Tuesday) as the date for their iPhone event. The event will start at 10am Pacific in the US at Apple’s Cupertino Campus in California, with another event held at 6pm in London according to press invitations issued by Apple on Tuesday.

The image used for the invitation shows the calendar, clock, maps, and phone icons from the iPhone homescreen alongside the phrase “Let’s talk iPhone” – so there is no doubt what this event is about. The simultaneous US and UK events also implies that the device will be very close to shipping by the time of the events – not long to wait then!

Exactly what Apple have in store for us in the design and features of the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S is still pretty much unknown at this point, however, with most speculation coming from some leaked case designs which may or may not be real.

Watch this space for more information.