A report out on Monday indicated that Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone will be released in late July or early August, contradicting earlier reports that it would be unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off next week.
The folks at Macotakara said that the so-called iPhone 4S will feature an 8-megapixel camera and Qualcomm chipset. Citing “an anonymous source,” Macotakara went on to report that the 4S would have the same form factor as the current model, and will use an ARM Cortex-A9 chip, though it said it was not confirmed whether the new model would have a single CPU or be a dual-core device.
The report also said that Apple’s new phone will be SIM-less and contain an “additional 3-4 antennas inside,” which would allow it to be used with both GSM and CDMA networks and thereby enabling a single model to run on both AT&T and Verizon networks. The built-in SIM is an interesting one considering recent reports of France Telecom’s Orange mobile unit working with Apple to develop a smaller SIM card.
Macotakara says that “Apple’s major new handset” – that’ll be the iPhone 5 – is still under development and could be looking at a spring 2012 release date.
The 4S news will come as a disappointment to those who had been eagerly hoping that the 4S would be served up at the WWDC next week. While Macotakara is saying this won’t happen, we need to remember one thing: this is Apple – so we know to expect the unexpected. It’s time to just sit tight and see what the Cupertino company has up its sleeve. There’ll be something up there, but quite what, nobody knows for sure.
