'iPhone 4S' Casing Resembles iPhone 4 with Some Antenna Changes

[scottparker999]

Having been in mass production for well over a year now, the manufacturing costs of the iP4 will be incredibly low. It would make very much sense for Apple to slightly bump the specs and continue to manufacture these very cheaply through their existing production lines - While at the same time introducing a new, all-singing-all-dancing iP5 for everyone to pay a premium for.

People still pay top money for an iP4, it is, even after all this time, no slouch. The soon to be announced iP5 will surely be FAST, and more POWERFULL, but that WON'T make the iP5 SlOW and LESS POWERFULL.

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Having been in mass production for well over a year now, the manufacturing costs of the iP4 will be incredibly low. It would make very much sense for Apple to slightly bump the specs and continue to manufacture these very cheaply through their existing production lines - While at the same time introducing a new, all-singing-all-dancing iP5 for everyone to pay a premium for.

People still pay top money for an iP4, it is, even after all this time, no slouch. The soon to be announced iP5 will surely be FAST, and more POWERFULL, but that WON'T make the iP5 SlOW and LESS POWERFULL.

I think you meant iP4.

 

[milatchi]

'iPhone 4S' Casing Resembles iPhone 4 with Some Antenna Changes

But there was nothing wrong with the iPhone 4's case in relation to the antenna. People were just holding it wrong. Why change perfection, Apple?

 

[28monkeys]

I already felt weird that Steve isn't CEO anymore.

 

[cameronjpu]

So what does the "S" stand for in dual core?

Do people sometimes look at you funny when you're the only one in the room not chuckling at a joke?

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I already felt weird that Steve isn't CEO anymore.

Steve hasn't been CEO for like, a year now. Tim has been acting CEO for much of the last two years. The future will look very much like the last two years, with Steve chairman of the board and advising, and Tim CEO.

 

[justinfreid]

What's your name? Couldn't tell from your signature.

Too much?

Jesus. What a terrible signature.

Sorry, for the name dense signature, cameronjpu. But part of the reason I do it is because I don't like the tenor anonymous online conversations can sometimes take. That includes calling people "idiots" due to superficial reading and superiority complexes. I feel like attaching a name and personhood to the posts can avoid it, but obviously it doesn't always work.

And, just for instance, my connection to someone on this forum led to his receiving a message from Tim Cook last night.

As for your posts on the topic, I agree with you and you read the intent of my inciting post exactly right.

 

[divinox]

Why did they change the antenna? I thought Jobs made it clear there was nothing wrong with it?!

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But there was nothing wrong with the iPhone 4's case in relation to the antenna. People were just holding it wrong. Why change perfection, Apple?

See, thats what i thought too. I feel deceived!

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Interesting how the only 'leaked' parts of the next iPhone are consistently being stated as for a cheap iPhone 4S! People refusing to accept the fact that this could be the next iPhone full stop? I have yet to see any iPhone 5 casings etc......

Wouldnt it be funny if Cook/Jobs went up, did his thing, presented the iPhone4S - everyone thinking there would be more to come - and then he just says "thats all folks" and walks of stage (with the device not meeting the built up expectations). Talk about appl.. err anti-climax!

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It is your network. learn.

Is it my networks fault that phones have worse reception today, than like 10 years ago?

Of course, network matters - but so does your antenna (for fairly obvious reasons). Apples antenna construction is far from ideal (from a reception point of view).

 

[Rocketman]

I'm ready for a form factor change.

You may have gotten post #5 but you didn't say much. Congrats.

The iPhone 4 design in particular lends itself to multi-frequency "worldphone" designs by allowing "racetrack" antennae bands around the phone in two or more "sets" or parallel antennas to make practical the following:
GSM
2G
3G
3G+
4G Chinese
4G ATT
4G Verizon
CDMA
EVDO

All at once.

I suspect Apple will simplify things by having two distinct phones. CDMA/4G Chinese and GSM/ATT4G

Differentiation still matters in commerce, engineers be damned.

Rocketman

 

[kalsta]

Is it just me or reading about Apple rumors after a day of Jobs resignation feels a bit strange?

Like Santa Claus has retired and handed the workshop over to the elves. Very accomplished elves to be sure… but writing that Christmas wish list just isn't quite the same.

 

[Rocketman]

And, just for instance, my connection to someone on this forum led to his receiving a message from Tim Cook last night.

Is that why there was a "deleted post" in a very prominent place?

 

[Sedrick]

Wouldnt it be funny if Cook/Jobs went up, did his thing, presented the iPhone4S - everyone thinking there would be more to come - and then he just says "thats all folks" and walks of stage (with the device not meeting the built up expectations). Talk about appl.. err anti-climax!

So now we know the real reason Jobs resigned. He couldn't face the let down of an iPhone 4s launch.

 

[rfahey]

Stop it all of you. I sure do hope the person who started the "4s" rumors gets some fat payout that consists of a lot of cake or other interesting perks because I highly doubt apple will introduce another "S" line of devices.

If anything I would expect them to be eager to ditch the "4" moniker as many people confuse the 4 with meaning "4G"; i know that if they were to make this next phone "5 or 4s" a 4g phone than the "4s" would make sense but other than that it seems a very unlikely scenario.

That being said, the ONLY reason the photo on the left looks bigger is the photo was taken from closer up. You can quote me on that.

 

[thecartoonguy]

the two photos are just side by side of the same part.

the difference in size is just difference in photos

arn

Whew glad to know I'm not crazy.......well about this at least

 

[justinfreid]

Is that why there was a "deleted post" in a very prominent place?

I don't see what you're getting at.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=13241434#post13241434

 

[theperipheral]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

To be fair, the 3GS wasn't released with the 4. It would be brand new for Apple to release 2 new phones (changing capacity and removing home button would be considered new to me) at the same time.

 

[3bs]

I love the iPhone but this would make it a million times cooler!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzsBwnv_dAg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Angrinkin]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

A cheaper iPhone 4 (whether they call it the S or not) doesn't mean cheaper quality, but cheaper to produce and more profitable for Apple.

The success of the 3GS at $49 is a testament to how people are blinded by the purchase cost and don't consider the monthly cost of owning an iPhone.

What would happen if the iPhone 4 was dropped, replaced by an even faster phone, but still $99 and slow compared to a new iPhone 5? The cheapest iPhone would be better than last years model.

And if they were all world phones...

Exactly! Well said.

 

[AIP5]

Interesting.

Definitely the best part about this is that there's a missing home button area. I'm hoping for a home button redesign... swiping left and right on the elongated home button = switching between apps like in Lion and iPad!

I swear, if Joshua Topolsky is right about the info he posted all the way back a couple of months ago: Larger screen, complete redesign featuring tear drop, elongated home button, etc, is true...

Edit: Btw, anyone else wondering how a big part like this ever got out of the factory? It makes sense to see the leaked small parts, but wow... trying to conceal this while trying to sneak it out...

 

[manu chao]

Why did they change the antenna? I thought Jobs made it clear there was nothing wrong with it?!

As the article speculates this could be to create a universal phone that runs both on GSM and CDMA networks (and possibly to include the T-Mobile 3G frequency).

 

[Sedrick]

Edit: Btw, anyone else wondering how a big part like this ever got out of the factory? It makes sense to see the leaked small parts, but wow... trying to conceal this while trying to sneak it out...

"Waitress, hold that hot dog!!"

 

[Rocketman]

I'm hoping for a home button redesign... swiping left and right on the elongated home button = switching between apps like in Lion and iPad!

The bottom bezel with or without a button could be both a button, touch center, or a swipe area. But swipe off the app itself? What do you think an iPhone needs, a mouse/pad? Just because it has the power to run Photoshop does not mean it should!

Rocketman

 

[manu chao]

You may have gotten post #5 but you didn't say much. Congrats.

The iPhone 4 design in particular lends itself to multi-frequency "worldphone" designs by allowing "racetrack" antennae bands around the phone in two or more "sets" or parallel antennas to make practical the following:
GSM
2G
3G
3G+
4G Chinese
4G ATT
4G Verizon
CDMA
EVDO

- GSM IS 2G
- I don't think 3G and 3G+ need any antenna changes
- Not sure if 2G and 3G need different antennas (though you need different radios inside).
- 4G ATT and 4G Verizon is both LTE (if we subsume HSDP+ into 3G+ which it is technically)
- Not sure if CDMA and EVDO need different antennas

But apart from inflating the list, I fully agree with your point of a universal phone.

 

[MacNewsFix]

Like Santa Claus has retired and handed the workshop over to the elves. Very accomplished elves to be sure… but writing that Christmas wish list just isn't quite the same.

Great analogy.

I think with Jobs moving to Chairman and Tim Cook to CEO, Apple knows they need something this fall to take the attention away from the leadership transition. It's for this reason that I fully expect an iPhone 5 with a brand new form factor versus just an updated iPhone 4.

What better way to provide confidence about the succession than moving 15 million of the iPhone 5 out of the gate (i.e. first few weeks after launch) and both a record breaking 20 to 30 million iPhone sales plus record breaking quarterly profits for Tim Cook's first full quarter as the permanent CEO.

 

[kirk26]

So what does the "S" stand for in the name?

Sexy

 

[hNicolas]

How many iPhone 4 variations are there?

My GSM iPhone 4 has 2 antenna breaks at the bottom and 1 on the top left side.
I didn't know that the US AT&T GSM version only has 2 antenna breaks. Why the difference?