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iPhone N94 Prototype Back Cover - Is this actually the iPhone 5?

The physical design of the phone is a big issue because of the fact that the new iOS will run perfectly fine on the 4. Apple can stand up and do a big show about how many new software upgrades the "iPhone 4S" has (if the only thing they have to offer this year IS the 4S), but when it comes down to it, if they keep the same form factor, the only things that are going to be different about the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S are the camera and the processor.

If the phone runs perfectly well on the 4, then the processor becomes less important. And as far as pictures go, nobody is using this phone for wedding photography (I HOPE), so the camera aspect won't be a very big deal to most people either. Most people use this camera for crazy friends pictures/video, in the moment...nothing they want to view professionally. Working with cameras for almost 4 years allowed me to see that megapixels don't really matter as much as most believe they do. 1080p video would be cool, but again, not something that MOST iPhone users will need and/or care about.

So, in the end, if they keep the same form factor, A LOT OF IPHONE 4 users are going to stick with their iPhone 4's just because an IPHONE 4S will have nothing worth paying the early upgrade fee for. I used my mom's upgrade to get the 4, so I have my own upgrade this year to get the 5 (if it exists), and if there is nothing but an iPhone 4S coming out, I'll keep my $200. I know my phone is jailbroken, and perfectly set up the way I want it right now so it's going to take some serious incentive for me to drop the jailbreak to get a brand new device.
 
IMO, this is going to be the "iPhone 4G". It'll be a modest update, little form factor change. This picture is probably not from the 8 gig iPhone 4, I don't think they're going to redesign the iPhone 4 for the cheaper model.

I think all the tapered back cases are for the new iPod touch.
 
theperipheral said:
The physical design of the phone is a big issue because of the fact that the new iOS will run perfectly fine on the 4. Apple can stand up and do a big show about how many new software upgrades the "iPhone 4S" has (if the only thing they have to offer this year IS the 4S), but when it comes down to it, if they keep the same form factor, the only things that are going to be different about the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S are the camera and the processor.

If the phone runs perfectly well on the 4, then the processor becomes less important. And as far as pictures go, nobody is using this phone for wedding photography (I HOPE), so the camera aspect won't be a very big deal to most people either. Most people use this camera for crazy friends pictures/video, in the moment...nothing they want to view professionally. Working with cameras for almost 4 years allowed me to see that megapixels don't really matter as much as most believe they do. 1080p video would be cool, but again, not something that MOST iPhone users will need and/or care about.

So, in the end, if they keep the same form factor, A LOT OF IPHONE 4 users are going to stick with their iPhone 4's just because an IPHONE 4S will have nothing worth paying the early upgrade fee for. I used my mom's upgrade to get the 4, so I have my own upgrade this year to get the 5 (if it exists), and if there is nothing but an iPhone 4S coming out, I'll keep my $200. I know my phone is jailbroken, and perfectly set up the way I want it right now so it's going to take some serious incentive for me to drop the jailbreak to get a brand new device.
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I Hear you. Because I am primary on ATT acct I get an upgrade every year so regardless I will get whatever phone comes out. If what you say is true I think the phone will not do as well as iP4 did sales wise(WOW SHOCKING I KNOW). Like a lot of others have mentioned the delay of the release of this phone only adds to expectation and hype and if there truly is only a minor update, it will be a huge let down perceptually.

Remember it IS all about perception. Whether Antenna Gate or the glass issue impacted you directly or not, they still got bad press for it. On top of that the 4 and 3GS are the top 2 selling phones. There is the dilemma. Technically although some of us really want all new design, iP4 is still selling better than anything else.

Bottom line selfishly I want something new completely, but that may be too high of an expectation. The longer the wait for this I guarantee the bigger the let down if they don't have a new design.

I remember during WWDC I was hoping they would close with talking about the new iPhone. When I knew they weren't going to. When the Keynote ended. I was still let down. Just wasn't the same without it and I was hopeful that they were holding out for something BIGGER!

Until then.....
 
People, this is apple we're talking about here. They wont release a dumbed down iPhone 5 version. Its not going to be plastic.

Come on..It's apple.
 
Would anybody be upset if the iPhone4S (upgraded/cheaper iPhone4) is the one coming out end of sept and the tapered model is the iPhone5 coming out next year, possibly back on schedule (june/july)?
 
rockametrics said:
I Hear you. Because I am primary on ATT acct I get an upgrade every year so regardless I will get whatever phone comes out. If what you say is true I think the phone will not do as well as iP4 did sales wise(WOW SHOCKING I KNOW). Like a lot of others have mentioned the delay of the release of this phone only adds to expectation and hype and if there truly is only a minor update, it will be a huge let down perceptually.

Remember it IS all about perception. Whether Antenna Gate or the glass issue impacted you directly or not, they still got bad press for it. On top of that the 4 and 3GS are the top 2 selling phones. There is the dilemma. Technically although some of us really want all new design, iP4 is still selling better than anything else.

Bottom line selfishly I want something new completely, but that may be too high of an expectation. The longer the wait for this I guarantee the bigger the let down if they don't have a new design.

I remember during WWDC I was hoping they would close with talking about the new iPhone. When I knew they weren't going to. When the Keynote ended. I was still let down. Just wasn't the same without it and I was hopeful that they were holding out for something BIGGER!

Until then.....
Click to expand...

That's another thing. To me, it would be SUPER disappointing if we were made to wait a year and 3 or 4 months after the release of the 4 to find out that it's nothing but the 4 with a better processor and a better camera.

If it were just the 4S, I just don't understand why it would've taken them so long to even announce it. It just doesn't make sense. Shoving a new processor and a new camera into something could've been done in months, NOT over a year.

----------
fxtrt said:
Would anybody be upset if the iPhone4S (upgraded/cheaper iPhone4) is the one coming out end of sept and the tapered model is the iPhone5 coming out next year, possibly back on schedule (june/july)?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't, because if they release the 4S, I'm not going to purchase that garbage anyway.

For those people who WOULD "upgrade" from a 4 to a 4S, I'm sure they'd be a bit disappointed when 6 or 7 months after they bought their "upgrade" on a 2 year contract, they realized there was a REAL upgrade coming out. Apple would get boned by customers if they did that.
 
fxtrt said:
Would anybody be upset if the iPhone4S (upgraded/cheaper iPhone4) is the one coming out end of sept and the tapered model is the iPhone5 coming out next year, possibly back on schedule (june/july)?
Click to expand...
That's what I'm afraid of. I'm on a 3GS and hungry for an upgrade, but if it's just a 4 "s" type update then the real meat and potatoes could be next June. Really don't want to burn my upgrade on an update model.
 
Sedrick said:
That's what I'm afraid of. I'm on a 3GS and hungry for an upgrade, but if it's just a 4 "s" type update then the real meat and potatoes could be next June. Really don't want to burn my upgrade on an update model.
Click to expand...

This x 1000.
 
theperipheral said:
That's another thing. To me, it would be SUPER disappointing if we were made to wait a year and 3 or 4 months after the release of the 4 to find out that it's nothing but the 4 with a better processor and a better camera.

If it were just the 4S, I just don't understand why it would've taken them so long to even announce it. It just doesn't make sense. Shoving a new processor and a new camera into something could've been done in months, NOT over a year.

----------



I wouldn't, because if they release the 4S, I'm not going to purchase that garbage anyway.

For those people who WOULD "upgrade" from a 4 to a 4S, I'm sure they'd be a bit disappointed when 6 or 7 months after they bought their "upgrade" on a 2 year contract, they realized there was a REAL upgrade coming out. Apple would get boned by customers if they did that.
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That is what keeps us hoping for something better! How hard could it have been to just introduce the 4S at WWDC alongside the software update and let the software have the spotlight. We would have all expected it and been happy.
Surprise and Delight I guess...
 
rockametrics said:
That is what keeps us hoping for something better! How hard could it have been to just introduce the 4S at WWDC alongside the software update and let the software have the spotlight. We would have all expected it and been happy.
Surprise and Delight I guess...
Click to expand...

Exactly. I still wouldn't have been happy, just because I'm not a big fan of the way the 4 feels in my hands, but I'm going to be REALLY unhappy if they've taken an extra 3 or 4 months to even announce a phone that really won't offer anything important to anybody other than people who've been out of the iPhone loop for 2 or more years.
 
utahnguy said:
With Android gobbling up Mobile OS share like free samples at Costco, Apple absolutely can not afford to only release a "4S" iPhone this year. They get one release a year, and this time it will have been a year and a half, while new flagship Android devices are released every 6 months. There's absolutely no reason to be conservative anymore, the game is far too competitive in 2011 for "safe" plays. That's exactly why I think we'll see a re-worked iPhone 4 AND an iPhone 5 released. The more models on the market, the more sales, and a re-worked iPhone 4 would be seen as a "new" device.
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Android is already selling twice as fast as the iPhone.

Yet Apple... a single company... can sell 20 million iPhones and bring in $12,000,000,000 in revenue from them in a single quarter.

I don't think Apple is really worried about Android.

I agree that 2 new iPhones this Fall would be cool... but I don't think they're being desperate for marketshare.
 
Android? ANDROID? All you need to do is use an Android phone to see just how different it is to iOS and just how much smoother iOS is. ESPECIALLY with tablet computers.

And the A5 chip is much faster then an A4, plus a better mpx camera will also offer better HD video at 1080P.
In fact these are the things that any Android model launched every month offers over the previous month. Some have bigger screens, some do not.

If you don't like the iPhone 4 style then don't buy it. it's really that simple cause Apple won't loose any sleep over it, millions of others will buy it and upgrade from their 3 or 3G's.
 
I don't understand. If this is the iPhone 5, what does it offer? The part leaks have revealed the same camera, same battery, and same design. So far the only new improvements that we are aware of are the A5 and improved iOS 5 voice features. :confused:
 
You guys aren't thinking this through

GorgonPhone said:
^^^ i agree 100% all leaks and images point to this.. there is no indication of a larger screen or a redesign.. so yes they will follow the 3g - 3gs product evolution.. with 4 - 4s.. then 5 next year for the big redesign..

so i will skip the 4s just like i skipped ipad 2 which is morr of an ipad 1s...lol
Click to expand...

I chose this as a comment to respond to, but several other people have attempted to make the same point. So again, I say:

The 3G to 3G change was not "incremental" in any way!

Why do you people keep saying that? Why is the 3G the poster child for "not-very-many-changes"? I've already pointed this out, but I guess no one read my comment. The 3G changed quite literally every feature except the case. And yes, the screen was changed, they added 24 bit emulation and an oleophobic coating. The CPU was way more powerful, the graphics chip was exponentially more powerful, they doubled the RAM, they doubled the storage capacity, the camera could now auto-focus and also bumped to 3 MP, they added video recording, they added Voice Control, the battery was more powerful and withstood more charging cycles, they added a magnetometer (digital compass), and they even changed the 3G chip by adding the capibility for HSDPA.

That's a ton of new features! They only phone to add more features than that was the iPhone 4, but as I also said before, every single iPhone to be released has added more features than the model before it did. If you want a pathetic update look at the iPhone 3G. It added a 3G chip and GPS, that's it! But because it had a new design, everyone forgot about that.

Here's the history, and here's how it'll continue:

iPhone - Original
iPhone 3G - Small update
iPhone 3G - Medium/large update
iPhone 4 - Big update
iPhone 5 - Huge update

To suggest that Apple would release anything but a huge update for the iPhone 5 is ignoring the last 4.9 years of history, and saying that 15 months isn't enough for Apple to bring something substantial to the table.
 
utahnguy said:
I chose this as a comment to respond to, but several other people have attempted to make the same point. So again, I say:

The 3G to 3G change was not "incremental" in any way!

Why do you people keep saying that? Why is the 3G the poster child for "not-very-many-changes"? I've already pointed this out, but I guess no one read my comment. The 3G changed quite literally every feature except the case. And yes, the screen was changed, they added 24 bit emulation and an oleophobic coating. The CPU was way more powerful, the graphics chip was exponentially more powerful, they doubled the RAM, they doubled the storage capacity, the camera could now auto-focus and also bumped to 3 MP, they added video recording, they added Voice Control, the battery was more powerful and withstood more charging cycles, they added a magnetometer (digital compass), and they even changed the 3G chip by adding the capibility for HSDPA.

That's a ton of new features! They only phone to add more features than that was the iPhone 4, but as I also said before, every single iPhone to be released has added more features than the model before it did. If you want a pathetic update look at the iPhone 3G. It added a 3G chip and GPS, that's it! But because it had a new design, everyone forgot about that.

Here's the history, and here's how it'll continue:

iPhone - Original
iPhone 3G - Small update
iPhone 3G - Medium/large update
iPhone 4 - Big update
iPhone 5 - Huge update

To suggest that Apple would release anything but a huge update for the iPhone 5 is ignoring the last 4.9 years of history, and saying that 15 months isn't enough for Apple to bring something substantial to the table.
Click to expand...


Exactly, I think for Apple to squeeze the A5 into a body the size of the iPhone 4 is a massive achievement and will take them time to get right, but just cause the screen isn't 20" mega retina display in a totally brand new 1 millimetre thick case then people call it a crap worthless update!
iOS does not require a big screen due to the way it works, Android does due to the way 'it' works.
 
pirateRACE said:
Apple wouldn't prepare for the first product launch without Jobs to be a ho-hum upgrade. Shareholders would panic.
Click to expand...

Exactly this! The best time for Steve Jobs to resign would be right before a significant product launch – most likely a few weeks earlier, so that shareholders can calm down a bit. Tim Cook and the new team could take credit and people would say "Oh, they did it again". The first product launch is key.

Taking 1 1/2 years for a mere and unspectacular speedbump that could've easily been announced as early as the iPad 2 and no real benefits for the customer whatsoever, would only convey one thing: That Apple's best days were over the day Steve Jobs left.

Can't imagine that they'd be dumb enough to let that opportunity pass. And if they are, then Apple's best days are indeed over.
 
apolloa said:
Exactly, I think for Apple to squeeze the A5 into a body the size of the iPhone 4 is a massive achievement and will take them time to get right, but just cause the screen isn't 20" mega retina display in a totally brand new 1 millimetre thick case then people call it a crap worthless update!
iOS does not require a big screen due to the way it works, Android does due to the way 'it' works.
Click to expand...

What good is the A5 when the A4 can handle everything that iOS5 has to offer? You can talk all day about FEATURE UPGRADES, but that is just not good enough for a 15 month upgrade. Everything that iOS5 has can be handled by the 4 so what incentive is there for iPhone 4 owners to upgrade?

Sure, millions of people will buy the iPhone 4S if that's what it ends up being, but imagine the millions of people who are going to read how much of a waste of an upgrade the phone is if it simply upgrades the camera and the freaking processor.
 
KnightWRX said:
And most won't.
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Launch day purchasers number in the couple of millions. You think those dedicated to buy the first day won't again? I was, and still am. A hefty amount in the line with me seemed similar in nature. If you can upgrade at the discounted rate and pay for your new iphone by selling your old one, who wouldn't do that?
 
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