Apple Preparing 'Thinner and Lighter' iPhone for Third Quarter Launch

[Sackvillenb]

well... doesn't sound like it will be a "major" revision... but I'm fine with tweaks to the existing concept... and it will make the iphone 4 cheaper!

 

[drew0020]

If Apple doesn't include LTE in the next iPhone it will be because the technology hasn't yet matured to the point where it meets Apple's rigorous quality standards. That is the major reason I have an iPhone - I know that whatever features it has will actually work. I'd rather have reliable 3G than 4G that's twice as fast but only 10% of the time, with the other 90% of the time making me wish I didn't buy the phone.

Every time I see the commercial for that stupid 3D phone I want to throw something at the TV.

(To provide some background, I'm a recovering Blackberry Storm user. If you've ever tried to use one of those paperweights, you understand. )

Id rather have 4G with the option to turn it off and utilize 3G if I feel like the plauses outweigh the minuses, but your logic makes no sense to me.

And while I love Apple, their rigorous quality stadnards? Not in the last 2-3 years...

 

[Tonewheel]

Sheesh

If I had a nickel for every rumor....

Me thinks pricing to upgrade from an iP4 is not going to be a pretty sight. But the blind will jump....

 

[mohrt]

the iPhone 4 is fat compared to the latest smartphones

which ones?

 

[paul4339]

if it were a trade off of having say, iPod-like thin vs additional battery, I think I'd sooner have more battery.

 

[Steve's Barber]

I just want my AT&T bill to get thinner and lighter.

Foxconn/Hon Hai is having difficulties with yield rate on the new device due to it being "complicated and difficult to assemble."

That's because they go blind after the first dozen or so...

 

[Dr McKay]

I dont want thinner and lighter! The iPhone 4 is fine like it is, keep it the same thickness and weight and put a newer battery in.

What sounds like a better boast for the new iPhone.

2.3mm Thinner & 3g Lighter!

or

40% Longer Battery Life!

 

[nwcs]

Actually, just $10 million. It's called Liquidmetal. Look at your iPhone four from a sideways angle. Look at how thick the glass is. Now imagine instead of having the rear be glass, it is super thin Liquidmetal. Now also imagine the aluminum antenna is also Liquidmetal that is thinner but the same strength. This is how they make the phone thinner.

The antenna is stainless steel not aluminum. So probably not going to be replaced with liquidmetal. Although I haven't looked up the properties of LM to see if it would make a good antenna. Replacing the rear with LM may be an option. We'll see.

 

[Sjmarcy]

A friend with a 4G android phone needs 3 batteries to make it through his day. The first one is done by noon. The second by quitting time. And the third is for the evening. I should ask how he gets them all charged up.

 

[iPhysicist]

Your in for Liquid metal?

- look at those -

all pure and solid.

Sure its older tech but please don't stress the term "l***** m****".

Btw would a metal backing help to screw up reception once and for all so get over it. NO metal backing.

And to all the LTE lovers!? Come one - 2 streets with reliable LTE reception do not make your city "LTE ready".
3G isn't available everywhere yet, not to speak about its theoretical data transfer rates... For LTE you need a lot of 3G towers... so it would be only logical to improve 3G density and data transfer first and then upgrade to LTE. Everything else is just marketing.

 

[jackc]

actually, just $10 million. It's called liquidmetal. Look at your iphone four from a sideways angle. Look at how thick the glass is. Now imagine instead of having the rear be glass, it is super thin liquidmetal. Now also imagine the aluminum antenna is also liquidmetal that is thinner but the same strength. This is how they make the phone thinner.

 

[SSDGUY]

3rd quarter?

Doesn't the third quarter end June 30? Do they mean 4th quarter? (July 1 - Sept 30)

 

[buffalo]

Apple has to realize that if they do not include LTE, this will give the android sets a big marketing advantage. Perhaps it will be a real advantage for only a relatively few people, but marketing is powerful..... Because of this, I'm thinking that if they do not include it, it will be for a very good reason.

The problem I see, is that while LTE might not be a big deal now, it will be before not too long. My area does not have (Verizon) LTE now, but it is scheduled to be implemented sometime in 2011. While I can continue using 3G now, I am not going to want to wait until September 2013 to take advantage of LTE (assuming I buy and sign a 2-year contract for iPhone 5).

 

[HelveticaNeue]

they released it in those countries at the same time last year? i got mine in germany the day it was released in the US

Yes in Germany and those other countries I listed ... but not in Canada. We had to wait until the end of July.

 

[kalsta]

OK, I hope that "more complicated, hard for us to assemble" doesn't mean that the return rate due to faulty phones will be higher. That certainly doesn't feel like a far fetched problem stemming from these news, and a bit worrying.

Ever since the phone reception issues with the iPhone 4 design, Apple's ferocious hunt for the ultimate design has become a bit worrisome to me. They need to reinforce their reputation for quality, not add new fuel to the QA worries.

Well said. Perhaps it's only reasonable to expect two out of the following three:

1. Sexy
2. Functional/Reliable
3. Affordable

Apple traditionally focuses on the first two (or with their mice, only the first one!), but with all the competition in the mobile phone market, one feels they're walking a much finer line now, trying to achieve all three.

 

[nickdelvecchio]

If Apple doesn't include LTE in the next iPhone it will be because the technology hasn't yet matured to the point where it meets Apple's rigorous quality standards. That is the major reason I have an iPhone - I know that whatever features it has will actually work. I'd rather have reliable 3G than 4G that's twice as fast but only 10% of the time, with the other 90% of the time making me wish I didn't buy the phone.

Every time I see the commercial for that stupid 3D phone I want to throw something at the TV.

(To provide some background, I'm a recovering Blackberry Storm user. If you've ever tried to use one of those paperweights, you understand. )

Amen.

if I ever see a blackberry storm again I can't say that i won't break it on the spot. save those poor souls from entrapment.

after going from the blackberry storm to the Droid X and finally to the Verizon iPhone- it is such a good feeling to have a reliable phone for all instances rather than some or most. i now use my computer a lot less now that my phone can take the burden and I can rely on it. I would love to have LTE with a backwards compatible CDMA, but i don't absolutely NEED it

 

[msb3079]

Any thinness and lightness is probably going to be realized by replacing the back panel glass with a composite, and thinning the front glass as well. Those are by far the most heavy components in the phone so it makes sense that's where they're focusing. My guess is form factor for everything else will stay the same.

The back glass is heavy and thick??? Have you ever taken it off??

 

[Zunjine]

Doesn't the third quarter end June 30? Do they mean 4th quarter? (July 1 - Sept 30)

Wouldn't that make Oct-Dec the fifth quarter?

Businesses sometimes have different financial years but I think, when we talk in general terms, the year is the calendar year.

 

[r.j.s]

Is thinner and lighter always a good thing?

Having held and talked on both the iPhone 4 and my Evo 4G, I much prefer the heft of the Evo (with extended battery) over the iP4. It feels much more solid, and I don't get the feeling that I might break it at any minute.

 

[techfreak85]

I dont want thinner and lighter! The iPhone 4 is fine like it is, keep it the same thickness and weight and put a newer battery in.

What sounds like a better boast for the new iPhone.

2.3mm Thinner & 3g Lighter!

or

40% Longer Battery Life!

This. I have been trying to hold off getting an iPhone 4 the last few months because I know there's a new one coming out. Just hope there is a worthwhile upgrade so I won't be mad at myself for dealing with this crappy android phone for longer than I had to.

 

[superdudeo]

I think Apple will be in for a shock if they don't increase screen size. I don't upgrades or new customers will be attracted.

 

[wordoflife]

They are thinking of all the women asking:

Does this make me look fat?

Are you sure it's not "Does this make me look phat?

 

[grapefruitx]

Thin? why

I have never heard anyone complain that there phone was not thin enough,
"I would buy an iphone but its not thin enough" is not a sentence that has ever been constructed as a serious critique.

"The battery life is pants" that you hear.

Seriously if you really put this device to work, battery life is not up to the job.

Make it thicker give me 3-4 X the endurance, that i will buy.

 

[Lord Appleseed]

Doesn't the third quarter end June 30? Do they mean 4th quarter? (July 1 - Sept 30)

Jan - March = 1st Q.
April - June = 2nd Q.
July - September 3rd Q.
October - December 4th Q.

Unless you are talking about financial Quarters, which they probably didn't mean here anyway.

 

[Corato]

Will definitely be replacing my 3GS ! Now.. who is going to have shared data plan, I have 3 iphones on my plan