Apple iPhone 5 Features, Release Date And Price

Apple iPhone 5 Illustration

As the iPhone 5 is on the verge of being released, and with all the speculations spreading on the Internet, people are anticipating and desperately waiting for the announcement of the Apple iPhone 5 release date, which is now expected to happen in Summer 2012. Many fans and current Apple iPhone consumers are wondering what groundbreaking features Apple will add to the new iPhone 5.

UPDATE: The most recent rumors indicate that the iPhone 5 will have a 4+ inch display, possibly made by Korean giant LG. However rumors of a teardrop-shaped device have been shelved after a Foxconn employee in China revealed that samples so far are symmetrical in thickness. (Foxconn is the company that currently manufactures the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 for Apple.) The same source reveals that neither of the samples have the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S forms, and that neither of the devices seen so far are the final versions. This employee has however failed to indicate any concrete features that are set to appear in this next generation of iPhone.

This article summarizes the various features and specifications that are expected to sport the device.

iPhone 5 Features

Although Apple does not reveal the exact specifications and features until the device is officially unveiled, we could dictate some of the main features that are expected. However, rumor of the new iPhone 5 features, in terms of both hardware and software upgrades, will definitely entice any smartphone buyer.

The upcoming phone is expected to sport the Apple’s latest and greatest A5 processor chip, iCloud service, higher-resolution camera, and a 4+ inch screen size. Here are some of the most anticipated iPhone 5 features:

iOS 5

Apple announced iOS 5.0 and its features during the WWDC 2011 keynote address on June 6, 2011. The user interface is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. It is expected to come with more than 200 new features that will include improved Notification System, News Stand and iMessage.

iMessage is an application that is developed to compete with Blackberry Messenger. The app will allow iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad users to communicate (much like a chat service) with each other. The iMessage feature has been integrated into the SMS/MMS application used originally on the iPhone models.

iCloud

The iPhone5 is expected to have the iCloud service.

Apple’s iPhone 5 is expected to feature the new iCloud service for wireless remote access of music from all computers and mobile devices.

The iPhone5 will automatically sync with the iCloud which will allow users to store photos, apps, calendars and documents without having them to store in the phone’s memory. Apple is also looking to tie up with top music label companies to license songs for the iCloud service.

However, rumors state that Apple might release a low-cost “iCloud iPhone” alongside the iPhone 5. It could be named the “iPhone Mini”

“The iPhone Mini (or iPhone Nano, or whatever) could have significantly less storage than a typical iPhone. Most likely 8 gigabytes of storage – the same as the lowest end iPhones right now. Apple won’t prevent users from storing their own content, because that would be crazy. But since it has a small amount of memory, Apple will likely push the ability to stream media via MobileMe as well.”

A5 Processor to power the iPhone5

iPhone 5 will house the A5 as the main processor, which technically is the same chip that currently powers the iPad 2. The A5 contains a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with NEON SIMD accelerator and a dual core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, which means that the iPhone5 can do twice the work at once. The processor speed will be somewhere between 1.2 to 1.5 GHz, with probably a 1GB RAM.

The processor upgrade is done not just to increase the processing speed of the phone, but also to compete with the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S II.

The A5 chip might effectively increase the power use, however, it is said that the chip has “got a dynamic power management”, which can lower the [speed] depending on the workload, and thus efficiently make use of the power.

iPhone 5 to Sport a Better Camera

The iPhone 4 sports a 5 megapixel camera, so I’m expecting that the iPhone 5 will have a rear-facing 8MP dual-LED flash camera. However, this isn’t really “awesome”, since most of the high-end Android smartphones come with an 8MP camera. Along with that, the iPhone 5 is expected to have a front-facing camera for video chatting.

According to sources, Apple has filed several patent applications relating to 3D picture capturing to the US Patent and Trademark Office later in March. This indicates that the iPhone 5 might feature a 3D camera. The filing indicates that the device will be capable of capturing, processing and rendering 3D images with dual-camera hardware.

Another interesting feature is that the iPhone 5 will be capable of taking pictures in Panorama. It will work similarly to the ’360 Panorama’ application in the App Store. It will let you take pictures in a sequence as you move the camera from one side to another, which in the end will effortlessly stitch the images together to create a panorama.

Additionally, if Apple really wants to keep up with the competition to Android, then it might consider improving upon the video resolution to a full 1080p HD recording. Currently iPhone 4 has a 720p video capture at 30 frames per second.

Display and Resolution

There hasn’t been a better screen resolution since the release of the iPhone 4. Currently the iPhone 4 has a 3.5 inches screen size, and sources indicate that Apple might stay locked with the current size. But a few other sources (including a recent rumor from a Foxconn employee in China) say that Apple is planning to increase the screen size to 4+ inch with higher screen resolution.

However, the iPhone 5 could be slightly wider and thinner. The dimensions are calculated to be: 4.33″ x 2.36″ and .27″ thickness at the top and .21″ at the bottom, whereas the dimensions of iPhone 4 are: 4.5″ x 2.31″ x .37″

Other iPhone5 Features

Here are some of the other features that we can expect from the iPhone 5:

• Face Recognition Security
• 4G/LTE support *
• A new, sleeker body design
• OLED screen
• Scratch proof and shatter proof screen
• Wireless sync with iTunes
• Extended battery life
• Flash support
• SIM-less phone **
• Physical keyboard
• Increased RAM (from 512MB to 1GB)
• New multi-tasking look
• HD audio
• Built-in GPS

(*) According the AT&T documents leaked by LulzSec, the Apple iPhone 5 will offer 4G and will be LTE (Long Term Evolution) network compatible. LTE is a project of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and is the latest standard in the mobile network technology.

(**) According to International Business Times, it is rumoured that the iPhone 5 will feature a new SIM-less design with 2 to 3 internal antennas for CDMA and GSM compatibility, which will make it a “worldphone”.

The above mentioned features are some of the improvements that we can expect from Apple. However, we cannot assure you that they can be true, but most of the upgrades are more likely to be utilized.

Apple definitely wants to fight back against Android smartphone makers like HTC and Samsung, and perhaps it is why the new iPhone 5 will host some of the outstanding features.

iPhone 4S Mock Illustration

iPhone 5 Launch Date

Apple follows a tradition to launch new devices in their summer Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), but that didn’t happen this year.

However, BGR reported that an AT&T Vice President has confirmed to several employees that the iPhone 5 that boasts a stronger chip for processing data and a more advanced camera is scheduled to be launched in early October. Additionally, the VP communicated the following to a group of managers: “Expect things to get really, really busy in the next 35-50 days, so prepare your teams accordingly.”

We can expect the announcement of the iPhone 5 later this year, possibly at the 2012 edition of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which is likely to take place in June 2012. The Apple iPhone 5 release date would then be set for a few months later.

The iPhone 4 has proven to be one of the most successful smartphones of all time with selling over 1.7 million devices in just three days of availability, and iPhone 4S sales hit the roof with more than 600,000 units sold on the first day. We are expecting that the iPhone 5 will certainly replicate this success, and one thing is for sure – the sales of iPhone 5 will definitely boom and we can expect a huge number of people lined up at Apple stores when the device is available for sale.

iPhone 5 Price

At this stage no official price has been unveiled but we expect the iPhone 5 to be the same price than the iPhone 4S when it was released. We will update this section as soon as we have more information on that topic. In the meantime you can read the latest iPhone 5 news and rumors.

What do you think of iPhone 5? Will you buy it? When do you think the Apple iPhone 5 release date will be announced? What additional iPhone 5 features are you expecting? Please let us know by leaving your comments below.

Source: thetechlabs

Posted in: Apple,Apple News,iPhone