Rumor has it that Apple’s iPhone 5 won’t be anything too special. Physically, it will be identical to the fourth generation iPhone. The handset is pegged for an October release.
On Monday, analyst MingChi Kuo with Concord Securities released a note offering alleged details of the next iPhone. He said his supply chain sources indicated that the next Apple (AAPL) phone will not feature an all-new-design, but rather only “slight modifications” from the iPhone 4.
In an article translated from Korean to English, Kuo states he’s heard the iPhone 5 will include a faster A5 processor, which is already found in the iPad 2, as well as a higher resolution 8-megapixel rear camera. He said he’s also been told that Apple will switch to a Qualcomm (QCOM) baseband for both GSM and CDMA models, along with an improved antenna design.
Kao’s statement says trial production for the iPhone 5 will begin in August, mass production in September, and arrival at stores sometime in October, which also marks the beginning of Apple’s new fiscal year.
According to Kao’s report, Apple will unveil its fifth-generation iPhone at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, scheduled for June 6 through 10 in San Francisco. But other reports have indicated that Apple does not plan to introduce any new hardware at this year’s event, due to last month’s tsunami in Japan leaving Apple with constrained supplies, choosing instead to focus on iOS 5 and their Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system software.
It’s widely believed that it will be the iPhone 6 that will contain different physical features from its predecessors, which is said to be released in 2012.
