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iPhone 5 is ready, just not production ready

wheezy

wheezy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 7, 2005
1,280
1
Alpine, UT
I have a few thoughts on the iPhone 5, and I think it's ready and was supposed to be announced yesterday by Tim Cook. However, given the earthquake/tsunami, production wasn't ready for an October delivery. Here's some food for thought:

  • Tim Cook had a prepared presentation for the Keynote, but it was to introduce the iPhone 5 after Scott introduced the 4S, this is why Tim didn't present
  • The new 3-model setup was to be iPhone 4 for free, 4S for $99, and iPhone 5 for $199. The 3GS won't run iOS5 nearly as well as the 4, Apple really didn't want to sell the newest OS on hardware that can barely handle it
  • Tim couldn't announce the iPhone 5 and then say it'll be ready in 4-6 months, that would cannibalize into 4S sales and really hurt their shareholder confidence
  • Upgrading current production infrastructure to build 4S over a 4 is a lot easier than building up a whole new production infrastructure for an iPhone 5, hence the delay in the iPhone 5 and not the 4S

After the tapered model leak and a lot of case makers on board with it, along with the 16 month hiatus it just seems a little odd that the 4S (despite it being awesome, I'm very excited about it) is the only phone. Apple is successfully selling a 3GS alongside a 4, so obviously having 2 or 3 models in stores is a worthwhile product endeavor. Yesterday would have been a monster success with a two-product introduction, Apple knew it, and that was the plan until production prevented it.

My 2 cents.
 
Apple just doesn't want Samsung to copy iPhone 5 new design. if iPhone 5 was announced yesterday, we would instanly know what Galaxy S3 would look like:D
 
eddieaus said:
Apple just doesn't want Samsung to copy iPhone 5 new design. if iPhone 5 was announced yesterday, we would instanly know what Galaxy S3 would look like:D
Click to expand...

More like, Apple didn't want to release an iPhone 5 that looked like the Samsung Galaxy S2. And then get sued for it. :rolleyes:

But OP, great post. And i agree with your insight, but i guess that design might not see the light of day. And if it does, then it won't be until next year this time.
 
wheezy said:
I have a few thoughts on the iPhone 5, and I think it's ready and was supposed to be announced yesterday by Tim Cook. However, given the earthquake/tsunami, production wasn't ready for an October delivery. Here's some food for thought:

  • Tim Cook had a prepared presentation for the Keynote, but it was to introduce the iPhone 5 after Scott introduced the 4S, this is why Tim didn't present
  • The new 3-model setup was to be iPhone 4 for free, 4S for $99, and iPhone 5 for $199. The 3GS won't run iOS5 nearly as well as the 4, Apple really didn't want to sell the newest OS on hardware that can barely handle it
  • Tim couldn't announce the iPhone 5 and then say it'll be ready in 4-6 months, that would cannibalize into 4S sales and really hurt their shareholder confidence
  • Upgrading current production infrastructure to build 4S over a 4 is a lot easier than building up a whole new production infrastructure for an iPhone 5, hence the delay in the iPhone 5 and not the 4S

After the tapered model leak and a lot of case makers on board with it, along with the 16 month hiatus it just seems a little odd that the 4S (despite it being awesome, I'm very excited about it) is the only phone. Apple is successfully selling a 3GS alongside a 4, so obviously having 2 or 3 models in stores is a worthwhile product endeavor. Yesterday would have been a monster success with a two-product introduction, Apple knew it, and that was the plan until production prevented it.

My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

interesting, however i would have been surprised if they were offering the 4S at just $99.
 
Apple just bought itself some time with the 4S. Samsung will reveal S3, their biggest gun. And apple will introduce iPhone 5/6 or whatever. They just checked instead of raising the bet and wanted to see Samsung's cards.
 
Earliest date we will get it might be during the annual iPad event or wwdc.
 
wheezy said:
I have a few thoughts on the iPhone 5, and I think it's ready and was supposed to be announced yesterday by Tim Cook. However, given the earthquake/tsunami, production wasn't ready for an October delivery. Here's some food for thought:

  • Tim Cook had a prepared presentation for the Keynote, but it was to introduce the iPhone 5 after Scott introduced the 4S, this is why Tim didn't present
  • The new 3-model setup was to be iPhone 4 for free, 4S for $99, and iPhone 5 for $199. The 3GS won't run iOS5 nearly as well as the 4, Apple really didn't want to sell the newest OS on hardware that can barely handle it
  • Tim couldn't announce the iPhone 5 and then say it'll be ready in 4-6 months, that would cannibalize into 4S sales and really hurt their shareholder confidence
  • Upgrading current production infrastructure to build 4S over a 4 is a lot easier than building up a whole new production infrastructure for an iPhone 5, hence the delay in the iPhone 5 and not the 4S

After the tapered model leak and a lot of case makers on board with it, along with the 16 month hiatus it just seems a little odd that the 4S (despite it being awesome, I'm very excited about it) is the only phone. Apple is successfully selling a 3GS alongside a 4, so obviously having 2 or 3 models in stores is a worthwhile product endeavor. Yesterday would have been a monster success with a two-product introduction, Apple knew it, and that was the plan until production prevented it.

My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I am assuming this is just your guess and you have no sources to back this up..?
 
Hey! said:
Earliest date we will get it might be during the annual iPad event or wwdc.
Click to expand...

So iphone 5 in January 2012? that would be perfect. Samsung will announce Galaxy S3 during Mobile World Congress 2012, which is the end of Feb. that would leave Samsung no time to copy.
 
I think you're wrong. I think it's the simplest of answers. This is (all) Apple intended to release at this time because this is their product roadmap. It isn't their fan roadmap.
 
Hey! said:
Earliest date we will get it might be during the annual iPad event or wwdc.
Click to expand...

I have said it before and I will say it again - there are going to be thousands of completely baseless rumors pointing to iPhone 5/6/whatever being released early 2012, but it just isn't going to happen. Apple is not going to throw out a phone and tell the world "This is our new horse, go get it!" and then turn around 4 months later and say "meh, old news. THIS is the new horse. Have fun with your 2-year contracts 4s owners!"

This exact same scenario has been playing out on the iPad side. Almost immediately after iPad 2 was released, there were rumors of "iPad HD" and "iPad 3" coming at WWDC, then "before Christmas". Many people waited, and the messiah never came. There has been absolutely no truth to any of the rumors, but people believe them and it costs them time (they could have bought a 2 and been perfectly happy).

If you can wait, then wait. I'm just telling you that it is going to be a long wait. At the very least it will be late summer or this time next year before you see a new phone.
 
When the iP5 is released in a new form factor it will be interesting to see what if any hardware changes will be made aside from LTE/WiMax...
 
Pez555 said:
interesting, however i would have been surprised if they were offering the 4S at just $99.
Click to expand...

Well, why not? The production infrastructure hardly needed a change. The A5 is already being produced for the iPad2, so chip supply on that is already established; updating the camera lens/sensor is a little bit of cost but can't add very much to the overall cost, so price-pointing a 4S at $99 would have made plenty of sense financially. The shock and awe from releasing 2 new phones, and one at $99, would have been a major slam on the smartphone market.

Deamos said:
I am assuming this is just your guess and you have no sources to back this up..?
Click to expand...

Absolute guesses.
 
The member above that mentioned Apple's road map hit it on the head.

Apple's big release decisions have probably already been made (likely by Steve Jobs himself before he left) for 1-3 years ahead. We probably won't see a non-Steve-influenced Apple product until 2 or 3 years down the road.
 
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)

China had a earthquake and tsunami?

Thought it was just Japan.
 
or...perhaps the iphone 5 was just a prototype and never to be release until next fall. And when the iphone 5 specs were leaked early the media, case makers, analysts, and fans ran off with it thinking its going to be the next iphone. :apple:
 
Great excuses!

None of which are valid.

The only reason that Apple did this small upgrade was to move the 3g/gs users to the iphone4s. This was a business decision. They will make the big upgrade for the current iphone 4 users about the time the original 2 year commitment is over.

So in about 6 months they will release the 5, all the iphone 4 users that jumped to the 4s right away will have to wait until they are eligible again for an upgrade. This smooths the supply and demand issues they have and Apple will be assured of at least some people buying 2 phones the 4s and the 5 in a year rather than selling people just the 5.

So please do not think that poor apple would have given us what we want if only the circumstances had been favorable. This was a business decision alone. Taking the guts of the 4S putting them into a different form factor and a larger screen would have been no problem for apple.

They are trying to sell you two phones for some and allow the carriers to recoup a full two years worth of revenue for others. Business not consumer love is behind this release.
 
my theory is that they originally intended to release the iPhone 5, and had prototypes built and everything, but eventually realized that the heat issues and battery issues with the A5 werent going to be resolved in time, so they engineered their new hardware to fit in the old case.

the rumors we heard about heat issues with the A5 were likely true, but they could have applied to the iPhone 5, not the 4s
 
psblake said:
Great excuses!
The only reason that Apple did this small upgrade was to move the 3g/gs users to the iphone4s. This was a business decision. They will make the big upgrade for the current iphone 4 users about the time the original 2 year commitment is over.

This smooths the supply and demand issues they have and Apple will be assured of at least some people buying 2 phones the 4s and the 5 in a year rather than selling people just the 5.
Click to expand...

I agree that this is a big part of the reasoning behind the iPhone 4S.

The other issues to consider:

1. By not releasing anything fundamentally new in the hardware arena (except for a 8 MP camera), Apple probably minimized its risk from any Samsung lawsuits. Technically, the iPhone 4S is essentially combination of the iPad 2 insides and the iPhone 4 exterior. By not having anything completely new, I suspect injuctions against sales will be harder for Samsung to win.

2. As noted by Macrumors, LTE chips haven't progressed enough to fit what Apple wants to engineer. It makes some amount of sense to roll out a whole new design when you have a big feature like LTE to promote. Even if it's going to be a very long time before LTE is available in enough areas to truly be a useful benefit for many people.

3. If the big feature you're rolling out is natural voice interaction with your phone, it's kind of silly to also show off a new, bigger screen that makes on-screen management of the phone easier.
 
Lots of good points here, I was really hoping that the next Apple iPhone release would have the 4g technology, since all the other major phone manufacturers ALREADY have it.

Getting locked into 2-year contacts, I had a 2G then a 3GS and have skipped 3G and 4G.

Now I am eleigble for a 4GS, but I have decided to wait for the 5G which will hopefully get released in early 2012 (assuming the world does not end, like the Mayans predicted ...LOL)
 
I have a feeling that the final iPhone 5 product is out there, in a safe vault somewhere or maybe Steve Jobs is using it! :D This iPhone 4S was kinda like Apples' first plan so they kept plan B for later! Its just a matter of time, maybe a few adjustments, before its launch next year, and I'm sure many people, like myself, can't wait! :)

iSari :apple:
 
Last edited:
This is a ridiculous thread why would Apple put so much into the 4s to be overshadowed by the 5. Come up with what you want this is the way
Apple had it planned. Give it up THERE IS NOT A 5.....until next year.
 
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