Author: Alan

Those waiting for an iPhone 5 may have to wait a little longer. All Things Digital is reporting today that the iPhone 5 will be launched sometime in October and not September as recent reports have indicated. A source speaking to the website said the rumors of a September launch are simply wrong.

While some reports have claimed that AT&T is blacking out employee vacations for a release of the device during the last two weeks of September, All Things Digital’s source says those reports are “misinformed.”

“I don’t know why AT&T’s calling for all hands on deck those weeks, but it’s not for an iPhone launch,” the source said.

While a specific launch date was not provided, a separate insider speaking to All Things Digital said to expect Apple’s next phone in late October.

Previous reports have placed the launch of the iPhone 5 everywhere from late August to late September. Apple has previously launched a new model of the iPhone once a year in the summer, but this year saw a break in the cycle.

While most cite the need for Apple to finalize their upcoming iOS 5’s cloud services and its accompanying infrastructure as the reason behind the delay, other rumors have said Apple was having trouble with its internal hardware, specifically, overheating for the A5 processor. In 2010, Apple had to delay the release of the white iPhone 4 for several months, reportedly because of problems with discoloration of the white plastic home button caused by heat.

9to5Mac has published purported spy shots of an iPhone 5 sent in by a tipster who claims to have caught the device being fiddled with by a likely Apple employee on the way home from work in San Francisco. The tipster says that despite his grainy photo, he himself got a “very good look” at the device and said the photo “didn’t do it justice,” claiming the phone would fit perfectly into the supposed iPhone 5 cases that are making the rumor rounds.

The photo seems to show a glossy black Apple device with a chrome Apple logo on its back. It’s thinner than any current iPhone, but it does indeed appear to be a phone and not an iPod touch because of the ringer switch. However, the location of the ringer switch above the volume buttons would mean that the phone would not fit into the rumored iPhone 5 case from yesterday. The purported iPhone 5 cases show that the ringer switch has been moved to the opposite side of the iPhone, as seen in the photo below:

Via 9to5Mac:

“Almost EVO-like” in screen size, this iPhone also appears thinner than the current iPhone 4 but also wider. The edges are rounded metal like the edges of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 but could still function as an antenna. The back is a curved/tapered glass or plastic. He couldn’t tell but if he had to guess he’d say glass. He said it looked too amazing to be built by anyone besides Apple (fanboy!).

A similar story of spotting an iPhone 5 in the wild was recounted just last month by tech broadcaster Leo Laporte on his MacBreak Weekly show. That story, which can be viewed in the YouTube video below beginning around 48 min 33 sec in, described a device with similar styling spotted in Silicon Valley:

We have major doubts on this one, as it’s hard to believe an Apple employee wouldn’t disguise the phone with a case or at least cover up the Apple logo. Even the infamous iPhone 4 prototype found in a California bar and sold to blog Gizmodo was hidden inside a casing that made it look like an iPhone 3G. Now some Apple employee is waving around an iPhone 5 prototype like some teenager in his daddy’s Porsche? Come on.

And grainy images of anything these days is generally suspicious. Pixelated? Yes. Grainy? No.

Following reports yesterday of a leaked iPhone 5 case diagram, website 9to5Mac today published photos of what it claims to be an actual iPhone 5 case. The case’s shape suggests that the new iPhone will get a complete visual revamp, becoming thinner with a flat back that is edged with tapered curves similar in style to the iPad 2.

According to 9to5Mac, the images come from a Chinese manufacturer who previously leaked accurate images of iPad 2 case molds before the iPad 2 was released.

The images of the iPhone 5 case also indicate that the location of the iPhone’s ringer/mute switch will be switched to the opposite side of the phone from its current position of just above the iPhone’s volume buttons.

A second image published by 9to5Mac shows the case from the front:

9to5Mac claims that multiple Asian iPhone case manufacturers are actively shopping new iPhone 5 cases to potential retail outlets.

Today’s photos follow on the heels of reports yesterday that revealed blueprints for an iPhone 5 case that were leaked by Chinese case manufacturers. Website MobileFun made headlines by publishing the diagram, seen below.

That report from MobileFun included an image of a manufactured iPhone 5 case that resembles today’s leak, right down to the relocated ringer/mute switch:

The leaked iPhone 5 case blueprints show a large band aid-shaped cutout for the iPhone’s home button, indicating a radical change to that area. This seems to match previous reports that the iPhone 5’s home button will be replaced with an elongated touch-sensitive strip. While some have speculated that this meant Apple was removing the home button altogether, we believe the touch strip will work in tandem with a slightly different tactile home button, and the touch strip will simply add new functionality, like the ability to swipe through home screens.

Earlier reports from this year had also hinted that the iPhone 5 would get a major visual overhaul similar to what is being shown today. A concept of the iPhone 5 created by Japanese website Macotakara in March, which were in turn based on reports out of China, shows the iPhone with a flat back with round tapered edges similar to what the leaked iPhone 5 cases show today. That concept image is shown below.

In April, This Is My Next reported that Apple was testing a redesigned iPhone 5 with a teardrop shape that goes from thick to thin. Their mock-up photo, however, does not resemble what the photos published today indicate.

High-end accessory maker TwelveSouth has introduced the BookBook case ($59.99) for the iPhone 4—a leather case that looks like a vintage book on the outside and serves as a wallet and iPhone holder on the inside.

TwelveSouth claims you can easily fold the case’s cover back to talk on the iPhone, although it doesn’t look very comfortable or convenient to us. The company also says that all of the iPhone’s buttons and ports are accessible while in the case, so you can charge, sync, and use the headphone jack with no problems.

The case does have one cool innovative feature we’d like to check out: pull the red tab at the top of the case and your iPhone will slide out a quarter of inch, enough to snap a photo unobstructed. Pretty slick.

The BookBook is available from $59.99 from Amazon.com or TwelveSouth’s website, which puts it in the stratosphere of price points for iPhone 4 cases.

Apple is rewarding contracts to Taiwanese integrated-chip suppliers who are willing to lower costs for the upcoming iPad 3, according to a recent report by DigiTimes. The iPad 3 is expected to be a much more expensive device thanks to the inclusion of a cutting-edge high-def QXGA touchscreen with a 2048 x 1536 resolution, and Apple is likely worried a large pricing gap between successive models could confuse or scare away customers.

A QXGA screen provides the highest resolution of any current mass-manufactured LCD screen available and would double that of the iPad 2.

It’s been rumored that Apple will help justify the iPad 3’s higher price tag by marketing it as a professional device to businesses that require high-res screens like creative professionals and physicians. Earlier this month, This Is My Next published a report that Apple was working on iPad versions of pro image- and video-editing software like Aperture and Final Cut Pro.

It’s also been rumored that Apple will seek to avoid annoying customers who recently purchased an iPad 2 just a few months ago with a name that appears to be a marginal upgrade or a totally different line of iPad. Rumored names are the iPad HD, iPad 2 Pro, or iPad 2+.

Taiwan Economic News has a brief report today noting that manufacturers have begun to ship the 8 megapixel camera lens that is expected to appear in the next-generation iPhone 5. The report names Taiwanese companies Largan Precision Co and Genius Electronic Optical Co as the manufacturers who won the orders from Apple.

Global orders for 8 MP mobile-phone cameras are expected to accelerate in the upcoming months. Largan’s CEO Lin En-ping noted that his company had already delivered a large shipment of 8 MP cameras for inclusion in HTC Android phones and expects 8 MP to become the mainstream standard for mobile phones in 2012.

A separate report today from Taiwan Economic News says Apple plans to order 70%-80% of their touchpanels for the iPhone 5 from Taiwan-based TPK Holdings Ltd, the world’s biggest touchpanel maker by output. The report notes the panel maker will also be supplying HTC, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble with touch panels for inclusion in their smartphones and tablet computers in the upcoming quarters.

BGR is reporting today that AT&T has begun communicating internally to employees its plans for the release of Apple’s iPhone 5 in early September. According to the report, AT&T has asked its managers to promptly finish employee training in the upcoming weeks so that they will be prepared for an “influx of foot traffic expected in September.”

BGR has a proven track record when it comes to inside info from US mobile carriers.

Other recent reports have indicated that Apple is staffing up for an important event in mid August to late September as well. Earlier this month, Apple posted job listings on the UK site Reed looking for iPhone sales specialists. Training for that job is to begin on Aug 9. Website MacRumors recently reported that Apple stores in the US are also staffing up by asking former employees to “return as part time employees for Holidays, new Product Launches and Back to School time.”

AT&T’s own internal plans may have been set in motion after they completed field testing of a pre-production version of the iPhone 5 for use on their own network. Last week, Chip Hazard reported that AT&T’s mobility division had received an early version of the iPhone 5 for network-compatibility testing. Wireless companies typically must test and approve a new handset before it can sold for use on its own network. The Verizon iPhone 4 went through similar testing.