The next iPhone could be little over a month away if the ever-turning Apple rumour mill is to be believed.
AllthingsD report the tech giant is to host a special event on September 10 that could see the unveiling of the iPhone 5S – or even the iPhone 6 – and the much talked about but still unconfirmed cheaper plastic iPhone.
Leaked photos of what looked like packaging for the more affordable version suggest it could be called the 5C.
Apple will be looking to gain some of the market back from its rivals by competing in the lower price brackets away from its traditional higher-end areas.
Rumours regarding the iPhone 5S point towards an incremental update but one exciting possible development could be fingerprint recognition.
As ever with Apple-based gossip nothing can be known for certain until Tim Cook gets on a stage and tells us so. Previous talk of an August release has so far failed to materialise.
A few things are known about the company’s next operating platform, iOS 7, as it has been available for developers for some time.
Apple are also set to launch the next Mac system, OS X Mavericks but it is unlikely this will appear at an event geared towards the next iPhone.
The Features:
Fingerprint Sensor On Convex Home Button
Last year, Apple quietly bought AuthenTec, a company that makes fingerprint sensor technology, for $356 million, and the general consensus is that Apple will include AuthenTec technology in its next iPhone. Cult of Mac calls the fingerprint sensor, which would be embedded on the convex home button and covered with scratch-resistant sapphire glass, the “big headlining feature” of the next iPhone.
Size
The iPhone 5S appears to be the same size as the iPhone 5, which would be consistent with other “S” upgrades — the iPhone 4 to iPhone 4S, and the 3G to the 3GS before it. Over the weekend, 9to5Mac posted pictures from Tinh te, a Vietnamese website, that purport to show mockups of iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, the less expensive plastic iPhone Apple is said to be developing.
Reuters reported in June that Apple is also testing 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch screens for phones that will launch next year.
12-Megapixel Camera With Slow-Motion Video
The iPhone 5S will have a 12-megapixel camera, according to an April report from Tinh te, relayed by iPhone in Canada. And last month 9to5 Mac reported that the iPhone 5S camera may also be capable of recording video at 120 frames per second, allowing for slow-motion video.
Double The Flash, Double The Fun
Cult of Mac relayed images of leaked iPhone 5S parts that purport to show an extra-large cutout on the rear of the camera, which would be big enough for a dual LED flash, giving higher quality images in low-light conditions.
Composition
The iPhone 4 and 4S have glass backs, and the iPhone 5’s housing is made of aluminum. Apple may be switching again, predicts BGR’s Jonathan Geller. This time? Liquidmetal, an “indestructible” alloy that’s twice as strong as titanium. As Engadget noted, Apple last year extended its exclusive agreement with Liquidmetal through 2014.
Black, White And Gold
The iPhone has been offered in black and white since the 3G was released in 2008. But Cult of Mac reports that the iPhone 5S may be available in gold.
