The last few days have provided us with not only intense speculation surrounding the possible launch dates of Apple's next-generation iPhone but also a possible scheduling for the announcement and release of a new smaller and more lightweight iPad Mini. The iPad Mini has been a long speculated product but with no real concrete details being known, it has just been put down to conjecture until this morning when a possible release date emerged.
New sources have confirmed that Apple will announce the iPhone 5 on September 12th, with a release date coming just nine days later on the 21st of the same month. It would appear that the assumption that Apple would release the next iPhone in October may have been a little off, with the news that the unannounced handset is all-but confirmed to arrive on September 21st.
Not even Apple themselves could have predicted the influence that the iPhone would have on the world when it was first launched in 2007. Obviously the company knew that they had created something special, but if asked to answer honestly, it is highly unlikely that anyone involved from the start would have thought it would become the iconic product that we have today. The current model iPhone, the 4S, is the fifth-generation device and although we are still a couple of months away from seeing what the technology giants have to offer us with their next iteration, the interest and demand is already unprecedented.
The iPhone 5, the New iPhone, the next-generation iPhone, Apple's latest iPhone. It doesn't matter what you are personally calling it or what you think the actual official name will be when the eventual time comes for release, the bottom line is we all want to see it and find out what they have in store for us. It has become part-and-parcel of the release build up for any iOS device that we see leaked parts and speculated technical specifications galore, and it has certainly been no different this time around. But could this new leaked image actually be of the official next-generation iPhone?
It has only been a matter of hours since the online media brought news that Apple is intending to introduce a new dock connection setup with the release of the next-generation iPhone, likely to be introduced to the world in October of this year. Various outlets, including ourselves, have reported that Apple is intending to reduce space required for connections on the bottom of the new iPhone by doing away with the current 30-pin connection setup and introducing a new streamlined 19-pin connector port.
According to a report over at Digitimes, Pegatron - one of the main manufacturers of Apple's iDevices - has begun production of the upcoming iPhone 5, unofficially dubbed the iPhone 5. The report sites the usual "industry sources in Taiwan," and although Digitimes has a bit of a reputation of delivering stories which wind up being inaccurate, the device would need to begin production soon in order to meet the purported September / October release bracket.
Earlier on this week, we learned European carriers were stockpiling nano-SIM cards in anticipation for the launch of the next-generation iPhone. For those who missed the previous report, the nano-SIM removes all needless plastic from the micro-SIM, saving those precious extra millimeters within a mobile device for more important hardware.
Foxconn, the main manufacturing company of Apple products, is reported to be hiring in large numbers to support the Cupertino company's demand for the next iPhone. The device, which contrary to previous reports, appears not to be in production at this point in time, will require the Chinese manufacturer to ramp up its workforce, and according to a report over at M.I.C. Gadget, thousands of jobseekers are congregated outside of Foxconn’s Chengdu plant, looking to get in on the extra work.
The famous Wall Street Journal seems pretty clued-up with regards to upcoming Apple products, and as well as offering a great deal of info regarding the supposed iPad Mini, the age-old publication has dished out plenty of info on the next iPhone. In the latest, the WSJ has speculated the Cupertino-based company will utilize new technology in the creation of the next iPhone's screen, rendering it thinner than ever before.
The next iPhone, naturally, has been a hot topic of debate in the blogosphere over the past couple of months, and with reports indicating the device - unofficially dubbed the "iPhone 5" - is currently being manufactured over in China, a new leak of the front panel has just surfaced over at Apple.Pro.
