The iPhone 5

by Freddie Harrison

Whilst the world waits with baited breath for the announcement of Apple’s next iteration of the iPhone, the rumour mills are running riot. Fear not though, we’re here to make sense of them for you. 

As we pointed out in our latest issue of the Magazine (that’s issue 96, in case you’re feeling lazy), there was a distinct lack of an eagerly-anticipated iPhone announcement at this years WWDC. It’s been some time now since we’ve heard anything about the newest iteration of Apple’s ground-breaking mobile phone and as such, the rumour mills are in full flow. It only seems right then, that I round those rumours up and give you our take on them and maybe throw a few of our own into the mix. Grab some food, sit back, relax and enjoy iCreate’s iPhone rumours round-up.

We might see a new iPhone parked on a charger like this soon

• Rumour no.1: “Apple are developing a new way of charing the iPhone”
This one is fresh as a daisy, and it doesn’t seem entirely unrealistic. With iOS 5′s ‘PC free’ technology allowing users to cut the cables when it comes to syncing and updating their iOS devices, Apple may well choose to lose that dock connector and keep charing as simple as dropping your iPhone onto a charging station. The clever folk at Mobee have already done it with their magic charger and HP have already done it with their Touchstone technology, so Apple, the ball is in your court.
• Rumour no.2: “The new iPhone will be thinner and lighter with a design like the iPhone 4″
This one is almost a no brainer. If the evolution of pretty much any other Apple product is anything to go by, then the new iPhone will most probably be thinner and lighter. Still don’t believe me? I’ll point you to the iPad 2. As for its design following in the footsteps of the iPhone 4, that’s fairly likely too. Unless Apple throw the curveball of building an entirely new device from the ground up (which they have been known to do on occasions), the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality might well prevail. It certainly was the case for every iPhone up until the 3GS. Besides, according to Apple, glass and aluminium is very much in vogue right now.
Rumour no.3: “It’ll have a dual-core A5 processor and work on both GSM and CDMA networks”
Woah there! That’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? The frustrating verdict on that? Yes and yes…probably. That dual-core A5 chip seems to have gone down a treat in the iPad 2, so why not spec up the iPhone with one as well? It seems like a bit of a no-brainer really. As for the GSM/CDMA rumour, it’s not looking too bad. Whilst it doesn’t matter so much to us UK folk, the GSM/CDMA divide is a bit of a pain over the in the US, so having a world phone would make life a lot easier. But as ever with Apple, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Especially like that time everyone did at the WWDC waiting for an iPhone announcment…
• Rumour no.4: “It’ll have an 8-megapixel camera and an edge-to-edge touchscreen”
Again, a bit of a no-brainer upgrade on the camera. If Apples latest refresh of the iMacs and MacBook Pros are anything to go by, it seems that the trend in Curpetino right now is to make things faster and cheaper, whilst upping the spec across the board for good measure. If Apple follow suit with the next iteration of the iPhone it only seems logical that the camera is one of the first features to get a bit of Apple loving. Could we see a 720p HD front-facing camera as well? Doubtful, but it’d be a welcome improvement on the VGA one that graces the iPhone 4. As for the edge-to-edge touchscreen, I’m not so sure. The home button is nowhere near redundant enough to lose it in favour of a gesture-based home command that some rumours have pointed to, but I wouldn’t write off the idea of a bigger touchscreen or even a higher-res one.

It's thinner and lighter, but it's not the new iPhone (yet)

• Rumour no.5: “Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer are actually the same person. Think about it, have you ever seen them in the same room?”
Whilst this wasn’t what we expected when we Tweeted this morning asking for rumours, it certainly raised a few laughs and smiles during the tense deadline times in the office, so it seems only fair that I take this one with the same gusto as the rest of the rumours. Whilst it is very true that you never really Steve or Steve in the same room (confusing already, right?), all I can say is that one dresses a lot better than the other and therefore they can’t possibly the same person. I’m sure you can guess which Steve is which there…
Feeling a bit left out that you didn’t get asked for rumours? Then it probably means you’re not following us on Twitter! Head over to twitter.com/iCreateMagazine and hit that lovely green follow button. When you’re done, why not Tweet us the craziest new iPhone rumour you’ve heard of? Eternal glory goes to anyone who manages to make us laugh out loud.