The iPhone 6 is set to be 2014's iPhone launch, with the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C coming this year.
Rumours around the iPhone 6 are pretty few and far between though, with most hype pooling around the iPhone 5S's launch.
We do think Apple needs to break away from the boring mould though and the iPhone 6 would be the perfect opportunity for the manufacturer to reinvent the iPhone, as it's just reinvented iOS.
The iPhone 6 is so far rumoured to feature a 6-inch screen, putting into the same phablet category as the Samsung Galaxy Note.
It's also said to run on Apple's A7 CPU too, giving it an extra speed boost too.
What other rumours are on the iPhone 6 horizon though? Take a look at our release date, features, price and concepts article to see exactly what you can expect in 2014.
22 Aug 2013
iPhone 6 will work on all LTE networks
News has come about that the iPhone 6 will work on all 4G LTE networks, rather than different variations launching in different markets.
Currently, the iPhone 5 only works on EE 4G, but will not work on Vodafone or O2's networks when they go live on August 29.
The news comes via Gotta Be Mobile, who says the device will use Intel's XMM 7160 modem and baseband chips, supporting up to 15 different LTE bands.
Most other chips only support around 8 bands, meaning manufacturers have to put different processors in different devices for markets around the world.
21 Aug 2013
iPhone 6 with 6.2-inch screen takes on Samsung Galaxy Note 3
A 6.2-inch iPhone 6 has broken cover online and it shows some serious competition for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with its rumoured 5.9-inch display. The device in question was innovated by Ran Avni and also shows a home button, with a built -in fingerprint sensor and iSight camera for FaceTime.
13 Aug 2013
iPhone 6 concept shows infinite screen
A new iPhone 6 concept has appeared online, with a wrap-around screen.
Although we've previously heard Apple may be introducing an edge-to-edge display on its next iPhone, this takes it one step further, with the edges (and possibly the back) becoming an active screen.
The iPhone 6 concept appeared on Dribbble and shows how the browser could potentially work, as well as an RSS reader.
Of course, the idea will allow you to see much more than just the 4-inch screen's worth of information, but we're not sure the designer has thought the idea through properly.
The main problem is the way in which you hold your phone. Usually, your palm will touch the edge of a device, meaning you could accidentally click on a web page link, open an app or focus on the wrong part of a vista if using touch-to-focus on the camera.
Another potential issue, identified by Macgasm is that you wouldn't be able to use a case, because cases wrap around the sides of a device, therefore covering up a lot of the surface area.
Designer Claudio Guglieri says it's a promo page designed for the Adventurous RSS reader and says the concept device actually has two screens - one on the front and one on the back.
This would potentially allow you to use two apps at the same time, but it's still far away from becoming any kind of reality.
7 Aug 2013
Will iPhone Light outsell iPhone 5S and iPhone 6?
The iPhone Light will outsell the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 according to an analyst.
UBS analyst Steve Milunovich thinks the cheap iPhone Light, which is referred to as iPhone M, will sell 92 million units by the end of the 2014, accounting for 53 per cent of total iPhone sales.
The iPhone M will make up three per cent of Apple's iPhone sales in 2013, suggesting it will launch at the tail end of the year.
'In our model, the iPhone M is dilutive not only to gross margin but to gross profit dollars. The impact of the M depends on assumptions. We estimate the 4/4S, which the M would replace, currently have a gross margin of 55 per cent because of the low cost of older components. We also assume the gross margin of the M will be near 32 per cent. And we estimate shipment of 92 million iPhone M units in F14 [Fiscal year 2014],' Milunovich said.
'Because the M has such a lower gross margin than the 4/4S, the M reduces earnings in our model. iPhone gross profit declines by 4% or $1.6bn with the iPhone 5/5S profit up $4.9bn and the 4/4S/M profit down $6.5bn. The net iPhone impact is a reduction to F14E EPS of $1.16. In this case, Apple would be looking to add new users to its ecosystem at the expense of short-term profit, which CFO Peter Oppenheimer said the company occasionally does,' he continued.
Quocirca Principle analyst Rob Bamforth told us, 'the iPhone device family lifecycle seems to be hitting a myriad of emotions: shock with launch of first device, desire for many subsequent ones, angry (birds) as the app market grows, but this seems more like fear – fear of competitors, hence a follower move into cheap and colourful.'
'However volume keeps the virtuous cycle turning (devices -> developers -> apps) and this is the longer term play. OS and hardware are becoming battlefields of the past, the future is more about the battle for control of apps and content.'
5 Aug 2013
iPhone 6 concept with Retina 2 display looks amazing
A new iPhone 6 concept has been unearthed with a completely new design and extra strength.
Conceptualised by Johnny Plaid, this iPhone 6 concept shows a device constructed from aluminium-carbon – a material that looks like aluminium but has the strength of carbon fibre – with an edge-to-edge Retina 2 display. The screen is coated in ultra-tough graphene making it practically unbreakable, according to Plaid.
The information along with the concept says, 'It would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap.'
The iPhone 6 is made from aluminium and carbon fibre, making it 40 percent lighter than the iPhone 5 and 60 percent stronger. Apparently, the curent manufacturing process for the iPhone 5 is complicated and time consuming. Using these two materials would make the process a lot more efficient, according to Plaid. The build material is also shatter, scratch and dent resistant.
At the bottom of the device, sits the MagSafe charging port as seen on MacBooks. It's described on the concept as 'MagSafe 2' and, like the MagSafe connector on apple laptops, it will simply detach if knocked without damaging the charger or the charging port.
The iPhone 6 concept also shows off a new way of navigating round the device. Multi-touch gesture support (apparently a feature of iOS 8 – yeah, right, Plaid!), allows you to control your iPhone using just the bottom bezel. Double tap the home icon to trigger multitasking mode, single tap to head to the home screen and press and hold for Siri to launch. The HomePad gestures, in Plaid's view of iOS 8, are customisable so you can change them to access the applications you use.
The iPhone 6 will measure 58.6x123.8x7.6mm according to Plaid, with two 2.8GHz quad-core A7 processors, 8-megapixel front-facing camera, 20.2-megapixel rear camera, water-resistant up to two feet of water, with 4GB 1600MHz memory, 2800mAh battery and will be available in 32GB, 64GB, 96GB and 128GB capacities, starting at a price of $199 (£130), going right up to $499 (£326) on a two-year contract.
3 Aug 2013
iPhone 6 to feature car adjustment tech with iOS 7?
The iPhone 6 may feature technology that allows you to adjust your car from your iDevice.
The patent, filed on the United States Patent and Trademark Office shows the ability to tune the radio into your preferred station, adjust mirrors and seat position so if you share a car, you can make it perfect for your needs with the tap of a screen.
Features you will be able to change include the mirrors, seat and steering wheel position, so whether you share a car with a partner/husband/wife/friend or you use a hire car on a regular basis, it can certainly take the pain out of changing your settings every time you get in the car.
The patent says, 'A user's portable electronic device can learn configuration preferences from a first environment, such as the user's car, and when the user visits another similar environment, such as a rented automobile, those configuration preferences can be imported into the visited environment and used to automatically configure the environment according to the imported preferences.'
iOS in the car was detailed in the iOS 7 launch in May and allows you to connect your iPhone to your car's entertainment system.
It's thought the tecnology could be integrated into iOS 7, although it hasn't been identified in the code of any versions up to iOS 7 beta 4 which launched last week.
The iPhone 6 is said to be launching in 2014 and may include a larger screen of around 4-inches, A7 processor and 12-megapixel camera. The iPhone 5S and iPhone Light are said to be launching in September this year.
30 Jul 2013
iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S will include fingerprint sensor
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S will both include fingerprint sensor technology, according to one investigator.
It has been revealed that iOS 7 beta 4 includes the BiometricKitUI code bundle and includes strings on how to use a fingerprint sensor on an iPhone, says Christian Post.
The strings 'show a photo of a person holding an iPhone with their left hand while touching the home button with their thumb, a photo of a person holding an iPhone with their right hand while touching the Home button with their thumb and a fingerprint that changes color during the set up process,' said the website.au
The rumour that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S will feature fingerprint recognition technology is not a new one.
A month ago, a patent filing showed fingerprint scanner on the next iPhone's bezel.
'By encasing both the bezel and the sensor die in the encapsulation structure, the elements may be brought closer together than otherwise possible. In addition, the encapsulation structure physically protects the bezel and sensor die, and in particular maintains the spacing there between in a fashion that isn't possible by currently known device designs,' reports Patently Apple.
Before that, Apple revealed a job posting for a software engineer in Melbourne, Florida, an area where both recent Apple acquisition AuthenTec is based and Apple has a design centre. Authentec was acquired by Apple in 2012 and is known for its fingerprint security work.
The iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone Light and newly rumoured iPhone 5C are due to be launched in the next six months, although which of these devices turn out to be real and which are purely speculation remains to be seen.
18 Jul 2013
iPhone 6 to be constructed from Liquidmetal?
The iPhone 6 may be made from Liquidmetal according to a patent application filed by Crucible Intellectual Property.
The company is said to represent a joint venture undertaken by Apple and Liquidmetal Technologies in a bid to produce the world's first liquidmetal handset.
Apple initially set up a licensing agreement with Liquidmetal in 2010, but nothing much has been heard of the partnership since then. According to Electronista, Liquidmetal is a material made from 'a group of alloys that have an atomic structure more similar to glass, with an amorphous quality'.
The advantages of using Liquidmetal for a device is that it's strong and has corrosion resistance. It is also said to be extremely malleable, making it an excellent build materials choice for handset makers.
Apparently, there are a number of complications that can evolve from making large objects out of Liquidmetal, mostly because it's hard to create large sheets of controllable thickness. Stretching and manipulating the material can cause it to break.
The patent outlines a number of ways the material can be manipulated without breaking to make a sheet of between 0.1mm and 25mm thick. The generic factory methods include melting the material and using conveyor belts, although it's not entirely clear how Liquidmetal Technologies will get over the problem of the material breaking.
The patent specifically refers to the production of iPhones, iPads, watches or 'any electronic device'. With the iPhone 5S scheduled to launch next one could argue that the first handset to benefit from this type of build material might be the iPhone 6 or perhaps even the iPhone 7.
10 Jul 2013
iPhone 6 concept shows potential for coloured aluminium
iPhone 6 concept renderings are 10-a-penny these days but every now and then something rather cool pops up like this multi-coloured aluminium based design, which comes in a wide range of colours including red and baby blue.
The form is a lot squarer than previous iPhone designs and it also looks much thinner and flatter. The designer claims its aluminium material would also ensure that it is much lighter too.
Although the concept pictures don't provide a lot of information, one curious feature is a microUSB port at the bottom of the device, alongside a 3.5mm jack.
i-phone6.de also goes into UI details, not showing iOS 7, but a totally new UI, with the dialling keypad numbers displayed as round buttons. A large toolbar at the bottom allows you to call the number typed out on the screen.
The site says that because there was a lot of criticism around the new app icon designs in iOS 7, i-phone6.de's designer Philipp Ink tweaked them a little to make them more acceptable.
8 Jul 2013
Plastic iPhone shows up - is it iPhone 6 or iPhone Light?
A new picture of an iPhone has popped up online, but there's no information to suggest whether it's the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 or budget iPhone Light.
In fact, the picture on Techdy could just be an iPhone in a plastic case, a its own-made device it's claiming is an iPhone.
The website claims it acquired more than 40 pictures of the device (no source given) and said:
'The budget iPhone will be made substantially from plastic (we can feel it's actually polycarbonate material). It will have a 4" screen, like the iPhone 5, and interestingly, the budget iPhone actually has a shape that's similar to Apple's original iPod. When we hold the budget iPhone in our hands, the plastic chassis does not feel cheap at all. Unlike the plastic build quality of the Samsung Galaxy phones, the plastic material used on the budget iPhone feels more sturdy.'
We can see a camera and presumably a flash on the rear, above an Apple Logo and the iPhone branding at the bottom.
The front is just a sea of black with a speaker slot at the top. The screen looks edge-to-edge, but without it turned on, that could just be a black bezel giving the illusion of an edge-to-edge display.
At the bottom of the device, there's the microphone, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Lightning port and two screw holes.
The home button seems to be missing, exposing the inner workings. This could be the biggest clue that this is not an iPhone, but just a made up prototype because there's nothing sitting behind the empty hole.
There also seem to be some odd pin priks where the volume keys and lock/unlock/power buttons are all supposed to be. We can't see a SIM card slot either. It's all very odd.
5 Jul 2013
iPhone 6 concept shows edge-to-edge screen and iOS 7
A new iPhone 6 concept has appeared online with a 6-inch edge-to-edge display.
The concept, by designer Jonny Plaid, shows a slimmer but larger device, constructed from aluminium carbon fibre.
The device will be 40 per cent lighter and 60 percent stronger.
We can also see iOS 7 running on the handset, although there's no home button which is pretty integral to a device running iOS 7 for a using features such as Siri and to access multitasking.
The larger screen will feature the Retina 2 screen, with a graphene layer that makes it stronger than Corning's Gorilla Glass. Plaid said, 'having the thickness of just one carbon atom, graphene is the strongest known material. A single layer of graphene is virtual indestructible.'
Plaid says the iPhone will be available in 32GB, 64GB, 96GB and 128GB with prices between $199 (£150) for the 32GB capacity to $499 (£400) for the top-end device.
These prices seem a little low to us, reflecting the price of the iPhone Light rather than the flagship. We're expecting the 32GB iPhone 6 to cost around £450.
21 Jun 2013`
iPhone 6 fingerprint scanner detailed in patent filing
New patent filings suggest the oft-rumoured fingerprint scanner Apple has been working on will be fused inside the bezel of the iPhone 6, reports suggest.
We say the iPhone 6 because recent leaked images of the iPhone 5S show nothing remotely resembling this feature. Increasingly it seems the iPhone 5S – like the iPhone 4S – will be an incremental update, adding in only a few snippets of updated hardware and some new imaging capabilities.
'By encasing both the bezel and the sensor die in the encapsulation structure, the elements may be brought closer together than otherwise possible. In addition, the encapsulation structure physically protects the bezel and sensor die, and in particular maintains the spacing there between in a fashion that isn't possible by currently known device designs,' reports Patently Apple.
Reports suggest the integrated scanner, although infused inside the bezel, will create a slight bump in the iPhone 6's exterior. Whether this is an actual design feature to make it more tactile or a limitation of the technology's integration remains to be seen.
It's also worth noting that Apple acquired fingerprint technology specialist AuthenTech in late-2012. Combine that with today's patent listing and you have a pretty good argument for the technology appearing inside Apple's next significant iPhone update.
No comments:
Post a Comment