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Do u think Apple had the iPhone 5 ready but withheld it because of Jobs' condition?

Do u think Apple had the iPhone 5 ready but didn't release it because of Jobs health?

  • Total voters
    168
Jobsian

Jobsian

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 30, 2009
853
98
I'm wondering, with the apparent strength of redesigned iPhone 5 rumors, leading to eg manufacturers actually produce cases and stores stocking them, whether Apple's plan was indeed to release both a 4S (maybe with a weaker processor) with the premium 5.

I wonder if they had it in the wings, but because of Jobs' condition they decided to ditch the idea of releasing the 5 around the time of Jobs' passing, which they must have known to be impending.

The delay could have served both as a business decision but also out of respect a la Samsung/Google. Certainly some of the presentations in retrospect seemed subdued, and not entirely because of a lack of charisma as I originally thought!
 
Does the "iPhone 5" exist? Yes. Is it ready to ship? No. You have to remember that the iPhone 4S has been in production for around a month at least; it's not like at the last minute (last week) they decided "hahaha we'll push back this hardware and release this other set of hardware, get the materials and production line in place, and turn out 2 million units for launch day!".

As near as I can tell, the hardware for unreleased devices (at least iPhones and iPads) is essentially "done" at least 8 months before it's announced. It's always the software that holds up the show.

Also: can we dispense with the BS conspiracy theories, please? Just because it's a tragedy doesn't mean there's some kind of conspiracy going on at the same time. The U.S. government didn't plant explosives in the WTC, either.
 
No.

There probably was an iPhone out there with a new design. But they have planned this whole time for the 4S to have the same design as the 4.

Apple so far will stick to their revision cycle, with the major revisions coming every 2 years.

They probably perfected the 4S with the dual-antennas long ago, so these prototypes were possible 5 designs. I bet they will lots lots of design and make minor tweaks to make sure they do not run into what happened with the iPhone 4.
 
Not a chance. Mobile phone technology moves so fast that there is no way they would hold off on unveiling the iPhone 5 for any amount of time if it was ready.

I think they just knew they didn't have to do an iPhone 5. It was iPhone 3G, then 3GS, then it was iPhone 4 and now it's iPhone 4S. The next one will be iPhone 5, followed by an iPhone 5S or something similar.

They know what they're doing. The iPhone 4 design is one of the best there has ever been on any mobile device, so there's no problem with then reusing it like they did the 3G design.
 
Nah, doubt it.

Are they working on it just now? Probably. It wont come out until 2012.

I'm glad it was only the 4S. The iPhone 4 design is great. If you don't understand why Apple didn't change it, then you don't know how Apple think. They just upped the insides to keep it competitive.

Those iPhone 5 mock ups where ugly as ****! Apple can do better than that.
 
There has been no evidence or leaks that an iPhone 5 has been imminent. Even if there were I severely doubt a company would withhold their most successful product. There is no way Jobs would have wanted that.
 
It doesn't matter what we think. Apple already released the 4S, and they're selling a ton of them.
 
The question is not that stupid.

I initially had this passing thought too but couldn't really fully justify it.

The theory arises when you consider the 16 month period to put in a chip they already had and an extra lens in a camera.

Also the idea that the market is calling for a timely screen increase and it was nowhere to be found.

Jobs has plans in the pipeline for 4 years from now.

Why is the question so ridiculous again? I can see giving reasonable rebuttals, but why is it so "conspiracy theory" status?

I made a thread about this too before and it was sent to wasteland... I didn't see why, it was a reasonable theory at least worth hashing out.
 
No. I think they're def working on it, but it was nowhere near ready. Plus, the iPhone 4s release follows tradition of a slight upgrade to an earlier phone.
 
Bobby Corwen said:
Why is the question so ridiculous again? I can see giving reasonable rebuttals, but why is it so "conspiracy theory" status?
Click to expand...
Knee-jerking ;)

Completely agreed with your points, especially it being 16 months in waiting.

We're merely asking the question, not stating it's fact.
 
Bobby Corwen said:
The question is not that stupid.

I initially had this passing thought too but couldn't really fully justify it.

The theory arises when you consider the 16 month period to put in a chip they already had and an extra lens in a camera.

Also the idea that the market is calling for a timely screen increase and it was nowhere to be found.

Jobs has plans in the pipeline for 4 years from now.

Why is the question so ridiculous again? I can see giving reasonable rebuttals, but why is it so "conspiracy theory" status?

I made a thread about this too before and it was sent to wasteland... I didn't see why, it was a reasonable theory at least worth hashing out.
Click to expand...

I think the question you need to ask is why would they possibly do that?

It makes no sense from a business or sentimental perspective. Postpone a device for nearly a year out of respect?! Even if it is postponed for a shorter period then that would seriously annoy a lot of customers.

I really can't see where the advantage would be.

Please enlighten me.
 
The iPhone 5 clearly exists (at least in concept/prototype) since it's part of Apple's product cycle. However does Apple have them in any meaningful pre-production quantities? Doubtful.

Usually there's a good rumour or images of the hardware leaking through Apple's secrecy-curtain. Not so with the iPhone 5.
 
I say the iPhone 5 may be an iPhone 4g. Not called the 5. They will most def not release the iPhone that is a true 4g phone until the networks catch up and have widespread LTE comparible speeds. I'm looking forward to it. We have to wait for the towers to be upgraded across the continent tho. It's happening, slowly but surely.
 
Guys: regardless of whether you want/beleive a new form factor-iPhone is out or will be out at the next revision I promise you this: it won't be called the iPhone 5, it will be called the iPhone 6.

1=iPhone (2007)
2=iPhone 3G (2008)
3=iPhone 3GS (2009)
4=iPhone 4 (2010)
5=iPhone 5S (2011)

6=iPhone 6 (2012)

Am I the only one who gets irritated by "iPhone 5" crap?
 
One of the dumber poll questions. What's next, they delayed the iPhone5 because Martians threatened to land if they did?:rolleyes:
 
BLee17 said:
Guys: regardless of whether you want/beleive a new form factor-iPhone is out or will be out at the next revision I promise you this: it won't be called the iPhone 5, it will be called the iPhone 6.

1=iPhone (2007)
2=iPhone 3G (2008)
3=iPhone 3GS (2009)
4=iPhone 4 (2010)
5=iPhone 5S (2011)

6=iPhone 6 (2012)

Am I the only one who gets irritated by "iPhone 5" crap?
Click to expand...

Can you spot the rather obvious flaw in your post?
 
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