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Posts tagged with "iphone 5"

OmniVision Introduces 5 MP Sensor With 1080p Video Recording

Earlier this morning we reported on some rumors from DigiTimes regarding the production timeline of the upcoming iPhone 4S and rumoured components that it would include. In their report, DigiTimes claimed that it would contain an 8 MP camera from OmniVision Technologies, and to some degree it makes sense. Sony’s CEO in April made a fleeting comment suggesting that it would be supplying Apple with an 8MP camera for the next iPhone. However, those same comments were later suggested to have been largely “invented” by bloggers attending the event.

OmniVision today introduced a new 5MP image sensor, the OV5690, that was developed to produce the “best-in-class image quality” whilst being an effective solution for slimmer mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers by reducing the size of the camera module. With contradicting reports on whether the next iPhone will contain a 5 MP camera or an 8 MP camera, this new product certainly lends weight to the suggestion that it could have a 5 MP camera. In recent times Apple has been ferocious in crafting its devices to be as thin and light as possible, and this latest component by OmniVision could enable Apple to deliver on that goal with improved image quality (and 1080p video recording at 30 fps) whilst fitting into a smaller package.

With industry sources placing 5-megapixel CMOS image sensors at more than 15 percent of the overall sensor market today, we view 5-megapixel sensors as occupying as a sweet spot in the market. (Emphasis Added)

The iPhone 4 currently sports an older OmniVision camera component that is also 5 MP but only records video in 720p. Apple may well choose to stick with OmniVision and deliver a slightly improved camera in its next iPhone – which may be in line with reports of just small, evolutionary, improvements for the next iPhone. Although interestingly, OmniVision also revealed in early January that it had introduced a 10MP camera sensor that would similarly enable 1080p video recording at 30fps.

iPhone 4S To Go Into Production In August, Apple Reducing iPhone 4 Shipments

Two reports out of DigiTimes today reveal that the next generation iPhone, which they call the iPhone 4S, won’t have LTE capability and will go into production in August. DigiTimes claim that the iPhone 4S was originally planned to be LTE capable but was recently scrapped after it was revealed that Qualcomm was facing problems in producing the chips in large enough quantities for the iPhone.

Instead, LTE capability will likely make its way into the following (sixth generation) iPhone in 2012. A number of carriers, including three top Chinese telecommunication companies will be disappointed after expressing interest in selling an LTE capable iPhone. Despite this, China Mobile, which will have 27 million users by the end of this year, is expected to reach an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone 4S when it is expected to launch in September this year.

With plans to begin production of the iPhone 4S in August, and nearly 2 million iPhone 4s in inventory according to sources, Apple has reportedly lowered its expected shipment volumes for the iPhone 4 (for Q2 2011) to 17.5-18 million units, a reduction of about 2 million units. Around 2 million are expected to be the CDMA version whilst around 16 million 3G models. Apple is however expecting shipments of iPad 2s to increase substantially from 7-8 million units to 10-10.5 million units in Q2, 2011.

The iPhone 4S will reportedly include 3G and CDMA chips from Qualcomm, a rear 8MP camera from OmniVision Technologies and Largan Precision to produce image sensors and the lens. Prior rumors had suggested that this years iPhone would feature some slight design modifications and the support for HSPA+ because of the lack of readiness of 4G chips as DigiTimes is today reporting. It was also rumored that it would also contain an 8MP camera, but from Sony, not OmniVision and Largan Precision.

[Via DigiTimes (1) (2)]

Another Analyst Claims iPhone 5 Won’t Have NFC

Over the past months, several rumors indicated Apple may or may not implement Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into the next iPhone, scheduled for a Fall 2011 launch. While The New York Times reported NFC would eventually find its way on the iPhone, but perhaps not the iPhone 5, others suggested the new iPhone was being built with NFC capabilities in mind, with some even claiming NFC could bring advanced remote computing features when paired to a Mac.

The NFC rumor mill was brought back to full activity this morning with a new report from Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who says the next iPhone won’t feature such a tech because it simply isn’t ready for mass consumer adoption, and Apple never embraced promising technologies just for the sake of having them on their feature list.

John Paczkowski at All Things Digital posted some parts of Sacconaghi’s note:

NFC-based mobile payments require NFC-capable POS terminals,” Sacconaghi wrote. “Only 51,000 retail locations support contactless payments (per Verifone’s 10K); given that First Data alone deals with 4.1M merchant locations in the U.S. this suggests current penetration of just over 1 percent of merchant locations. Clearly, a higher critical mass is needed before mobile payments would take off.

We do not expect the iPhone 5 to feature an NFC-based payments solution, and instead expect Apple will evaluate and come to market with partners or a complete solution later, perhaps when NFC infrastructure is more established,” he said in a note to clients. “We note that Apple did not release the first cloud-based music offerings, or the first 3G or LTE handsets, and entered mobile advertising only after Google bought AdMob – instead, the company has made its name from re-inventing MP3 players, smartphones and most recently tablets/netbooks, and would retain the option to eventually do the same with mobile payments.

Admittedly, Sacconaghi’s report sounds like Apple common sense – with 1% penetration in retail locations and the lack of clear standards for consumers, NFC still seems like something Apple might like, but it’s not ready to completely roll out yet. The opportunity for Apple to enable mobile payments and smart music recognition (as demoed by Google at the I/O conference) tied to iTunes accounts is huge, but if the company – as they usually do – really wants to reinvent the NFC system as most people know it, we’re going to have to wait for another generation of devices and larger consumer adoption.

iPhone 5 Parts Confirm New Camera Flash Position?

Following this morning’s purported case design for the “iPhone 5G” that seemed to suggest the next-generation device would relocate the rear-facing camera flash to opposite side of the lens, 9to5mac points to leaked iPhone 5 parts posted by well-sourced website Apple.Pro [Google Translation] which indeed show a rear camera lens with no Flash attached.

The alleged parts, posted alongside old iPhone 4 camera components, show a redesigned internal front-facing lens, as well as a different rear-facing module lacking the flash part found on the iPhone 4. While it’s impossible to tell any improvements on the cameras from these photos alone, Apple.pro does seem to confirm today’s “crystal case” for the iPhone 5 with a relocated camera flash on the back panel.

Apple.pro also posted a mockup of what the iPhone 5 with a different camera flash would look like:

“iPhone 5G” Case Suggests Thinner Bezel, New Camera Flash Placement

As noted by GadgetsDNA (via MacRumors), a new case design surfaced on e-commerce website Alibaba seems to suggest a new camera flash placement for the next generation iPhone, as well as a thinner bezel with an horizontal edge-to-edge display design. The case points to the new iPhone model as “iPhone 5G”, contradicting a recent report that claimed Apple was working on an iPhone 4S, sharing the same industrial design of the curent-gen iPhone 4.

1.100% brand new high quality crystal case for iphone 5g .

2. Provides a comfortable grip, added protection against accidental drops .

3. Perfectly fits the iPhone 5g, easy to insert and remove .

4. Unique design allows easy access to all buttons, controls & ports without having to remove the case.

5. Durable and Beautiful design

The case has a slot for the camera flash on the opposite side of the lens, which is rumored to receive an upgrade for the iPhone Apple will likely unveil in September. As far as theories about the larger display go, a report from This Is My Next in April claimed Apple was working on a completely redesigned iPhone with a “teardrop design”, a larger display, a new Home button, and worldphone capabilities. It’s worth noting, however, that former Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky (now writing for This Is My Next) also said the iPad 2 would get an SD slot and an higher resolution screen – features that weren’t implemented by Apple in the final product. Several rumors in the past months suggested Apple could release a redesigned iPhone 5 with a larger screen, NFC compatibility and a tweaked Home button design, but recently multiple sources and analysts close to “people familiar with Apple’s plans” seem to believe the next-generation iPhone will launch in September with a design similar to the iPhone 4, and upgrades to the CPU, RAM, and rear-facing camera lens.

Analyst: iPhone 4S Coming with HSPA+, Minor Design Changes

BusinessInsider relays a report from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek claiming that, according to his industry checks, the next-generation iPhone will be called “iPhone 4S” and it will come with a dual-core A5 processor, and better cameras. Whilst these specs have been reported by several other sources in the past, Misek also seems to believe the iPhone 4S will indeed feature minor “cosmetic changes” (thus contradicting rumors we’ve heard in the past few weeks) and support for HSPA+ networks.

Because the 4G chips weren’t ready, Apple is going with the minor update to the iPhone 4.

Misek also revealed the next version of the phone will work with Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile.

Speculation arisen around the next-gen iPhone model suggested Apple was already testing iPhone 4 prototypes running a custom A5 chip (the same found on the iPad 2) for better performances, but those old reports couldn’t specify whether the temporary iPhone 4 demo units would result in an iPhone 4-like design for the final product. Misek believes the iPhone 5 – which was rumored to have NFC, a bigger screen, 4G connectivity, or a thinner form factor, among other things – will look like an iPhone 4, only faster on the inside. Upgrading the 3G performances of the iPhone also falls in line with Tim Cook’s recent statements about LTE 4G chipsets, which the COO mentioned the Q2 2011 earnings call, saying they would have required “design compromises” Apple wasn’t willing to accept.

Apple Reportedly In Talks With New Light Sensor Supplier For Next-Gen iPhone

A new report from Digitimes claims Apple has received a series of verification units for new ambient light sensors to (allegedly) implement in the next-generation iPhone, set to be announced in September according to speculation surfaced in the past weeks. The new supplier, Taiwanese-based company Capella, currently ships ambient light sensors to HTC, and may receive orders from Apple before the end of the year “at the earliest”, the publication says.

Capella, which ships over one million ambient-light sensors to HTC a month currently, has reportedly delivered its products to Apple for verification as the ambient-light sensors currently used by iPhone 4 have been criticized for some problems, said the sources, noting that Capella may received Apple’s orders before the end of the year at the earliest.

Capella shares, which are listed on Taiwan’s OTC market, suffered a major setback recently as sentiment for the stock was blunted by its decreased first-quarter gross margin.

The ambient light sensor is used in mobile devices, in conjunction with software, to determine the automatic screen brightness and optimal settings depending on external light conditions. The iPhone, for instance, has a panel in the system Settings application that allows users to turn auto-brightness on and off, as well as a slider to manually adjust brightness. The iPhone 4 and other Android devices were highly criticized last year for their hardware and software implementation of auto-brightness which, in most cases, doesn’t take in account light conditions at the sides of a device (the ambient light sensor is placed on iPhone’s front panel) and, due to a series of bugs, automatically locks brightness settings to the highest level, thus consuming large amounts of battery life.

The iPhone 5 is rumored to skip a WWDC announcement for a Fall 2011 release, but rumors surfaced online so far haven’t mentioned a new or improved usage of ambient light sensors in the new device.

AT&T Rep Says No iPhone 5 In June or July

In the past months, a number of reports from different sources have indicated Apple has no plans to introduce a new iPhone at the WWDC event in June, which is going to be software-focused with previews of OS X Lion and iOS 5. The next-generation iPhone – according to many simply called iPhone 5 following the trend set by the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 – is rumored to be unveiled at Apple’s usual September media event – where the company will also release a final version of iOS 5 and roll out its revamped cloud services. Again, according to the rumors, Apple is doing this in order to shift the iPhone’s release date against the much more profitable holiday season, and a September / Fall 2011 release would make sense for such a strategy.

MacRumors reports today an AT&T customer care representative told a reader that Apple didn’t inform the carrier of any new iPhone in June or July, though there will be one in the future. This customer called AT&T to ask about his eligibility date for a subsidized upgrade, which had been pushed back by five months without reason. As MacRumors reports, this is what the AT&T rep told the customer:

Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.

Information coming from customer care representatives is usually unreliable as these people don’t have access to the company’s fully disclosed plans and operations, and they shouldn’t be able to inform customers of alleged plans and future release dates anyway. However, the statement does seem to confirm previous speculation of a new iPhone slated for a Fall release, with no new model this Summer as Apple has just released a white iPhone and a CDMA version before that in February.

Next Generation iPhone 4 Revealed to Have 3.7-inch Screen?

M.I.C. Gadget reports that they’ve gotten hands on with an iPhone they’re pretty sure isn’t an iPhone 4, but possibly an updated model that includes a 3.7” display, and the same proximity sensor as the white iPhone 4. The new display is nearly edge-to-edge, bumping up the screen size but not nearly large enough to be a 4” display as previously rumored. M.I.C. Gadget also speculates that it may have an A5 processor (a prototype model) that game developers are using to build games. Strings in iOS 4.3 revealed that the iPhone was slated to receive the updated processor, and recently a white iPhone was rumored being tested on T-Mobile’s network packing an A5 processor. A bigger screen has been seen floating around on leaked design documents in the past.

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