Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

No New iPhone this year

yodaxl7 said:
Actually, it is all of the above. Latency is important when the top speed is constant. The speeds that people are enjoying now is temporary. More 4g phones will eventually lower those speeds due to congestion.
Click to expand...

It is not entirely temporary. Once users arrive, more capacity can - and will be - added to the network. Omni cells will be made into sectorized cells, big cells will be made smaller, pico cells will be added, new carriers (frequency bands) will be added, so on and so forth. Yes, there are limits, but these are early days and there are ways of increasing LTE capacity by leaps and bounds.

yodaxl7 said:
Also, 4g will only be enjoyed in big markets. This maybe a good thing, because they would expand the 3g to be everywhere else? If 4g speed is around 10 or more during peak hours with millions of users, then that would be great. Doubt it, though. LTE is overrated, unless they can get the speed of 50 or more.
Click to expand...

Verizon is rolling out LTE nationwide. Not the AT&T version of nationwide, but everywhere where they have spectrum. They've already done with with EVDO, they'll be doing the same with LTE.

LTE is UNDERrated. Most people still don't understand what a huge shift this is going to be.

Agree that the term 4G has been blown all to hell though. Thanks, ITU. Before you dicked with it, 4G pretty much meant WiMax or LTE, and WiMax is dying. Now it means just about any damn thing.
 
Last edited:
smithrh said:
It is not entirely temporary. Once users arrive, more capacity can - and will be - added to the network. Omni cells will be made into sectorized cells, big cells will be made smaller, pico cells will be added, new carriers (frequency bands) will be added, so on and so forth. Yes, there are limits, but these are early days and there are ways of increasing LTE capacity by leaps and bounds.



Verizon is rolling out LTE nationwide. Not the AT&T version of nationwide, but everywhere where they have spectrum. They've already done with with EVDO, they'll be doing the same with LTE.

LTE is UNDERrated. Most people still don't understand what a huge shift this is going to be.

Agree that the term 4G has been blown all to hell though. Thanks, ITU. Before you dicked with it, 4G pretty much meant WiMax or LTE, and WiMax is dying. Now it means just about any damn thing.
Click to expand...

Markets that have LTE now is in its early stages. Thunderbolt is the only phone. In my area, we just got 3g. During peak hours, I get anywhere 500k to 1.5mbps down. During off peak, I can get up to 4 Mbps. This is ATT. Not sure how ATT phones are in my 50,000 people town. 4g will be in 2 to 6 million people cities. I can't imagine speeds can be maintain. I don't think Verizon will add more capacity because there are not much competition. You may wait 1 to 2 years before they do. Early adopters will enjoy the high speed 10 to 20 mbps down, but will suffer on battery life. Once tech improves and battery is not hurt, we may not see high speeds like 10 to 20 but rather see 5-10. This is ok speed for browsing, but downloading new apps or serious online gaming or streaming HD movies.
 
doubleaa said:
I agree. I'm in the minority but I don't want a 4" screen. A phone should be a certain size and every 4" screen phone I've ever held is too big.

IMO they will beef up the processor, add RAM, and make a white version. iPhone 4s.
Click to expand...

No, you're in the majority. It's just that the minority that want a 4" screen are VERY vocal about it.
 
URFloorMatt said:
Indeed, why jump to a better OS with a larger screen and LTE capability? Nobody would be stupid enough to do that!

If the iPhone 5 comes out in September and isn't LTE, then I'm getting an Android phone. I'm not getting stuck with 3G until it's almost 2014. If they release in June/July as usual without LTE, then they better bring something worthwhile to the table. I've got a lot of apps, but they can sit tight for two years. Or maybe I'll consider an iPad 3 next spring.

I'm not going to buy an iPhone this year if it's sporting last year's tech. That's why I didn't upgrade to the iPhone 4 in the first place.
Click to expand...

You make a lot of assumptions but mostly you are talking about YOUR preferences.

While I would like 4G, I dont think that it is going to be mainstream until 2012 so waiting on IP5 seems reasonable. If IP5 does not have 4G in 2012, then its over for the Apple iPhone.
 
My two cents: iPhone 5 is arriving in september/october.

Why not sooner?
- WWDC offers a "preview" of iOS 5, which means it will arrive later this year. Besides: Lion and iOS 5 is already a lot of content for one keynote, and Apple has no tradition on communicating a lot of things at once (on the contrary).
- Verizon iPhone and white iPhone this year, why would they stress the white one this spring if a new model is coming in June?
- iPhone 4 is still selling very well, even though competition is catching up. It's worth noting how few specific shortcomings people want corrected for the iPhone 5; The 4 is still a great device in almost any respect. Apple still has a great, popular device in the market, plenty of money in the bank, and are known for taking their time perfecting their products.
- Apple might be waiting for a fitting GSM/CDMA chip to arrive, enabling them to have one model for all markets (cost saving). This was not ready for the Verizon launch in January, but might be so for september. (If it was supposed to be ready for June, I think they would have postponed the Verizon launch)

Why not later?
- The A5 is already avaliable, and will be used in the next iPhone generation. If a new model launches in 2012, the A5 processor is already aging. Not likely, as these things cost A LOT to develop.
- An introduction in sept/oct means supplies are ok for the important holiday season. Any later than that would mean too tight supplies before christmas.
 
elverket said:
My two cents: iPhone 5 is arriving in september/october.
Click to expand...
... and Sep/Oct is consistent with the rumours of the new phone in Q1 2012, if one takes that to mean Q1 of Apple's fiscal 2012, i.e. with the first US business day being 26th Sep 2011.

I agree with the rest of your post too.

Here's another thought. There have been rumours of a cost-reduced iPhone Nano in the works. Set/Oct is the usual timeframe for the iPod Touch refresh. If Apple do the next iPhone launch in Sep/Oct, and also launch an iPhone Nano at that time, it would be a good springboard to try and shift iPod Touch users across to the iPhone family which presumeably would increase revenue from that user base and, once they're in the iPhone family, their next upgrade from the iPhone Nano to the full iPhone becomes more likely.

- Julian
 
Yeah. I was thinking about the iPhone "nano" possibility as well.

I'd like to see them release the white iPhone 4 soon. Next hit us with iOS 5. In the fall release the "nano" version that's cheaper and gains a lot of new iPhone customers, and then late this year/early next year release the iPhone 5 (with the possibility of the faster data networks from AT&T and Verizon being supported with these phones as well as the possibility of an all-in-one chip so they only have to manufacture one phone that works on both providers).
 
Geckotek said:
WHOAH!!! A whole 3 people that would leave?!?!?! OMG!!! :eek:

Please, while Apple might lose a few users, they'll most likely come running back. The smartphone market is very fluid at this point with users jumping back and forth between devices. But a majority of them are heavily invested in iOS and will most likely stay or come back due to that. Apple knows this.
Click to expand...

Count me in too - I bought my 3GS a few months before the iphone 4 was released, my bad for not doing my research before making my purchase. However I've been itching to try out android - now hearing that the iphone 5 may not come out before fall, since I'm not willing to wait that long to upgrade, this gives me the perfect opportunity to try out Android. I very well may come back to the iphone a year from now, and I may not. I'm switching to Verizon on purpose so I have the option to do a seamless switch back to the iphone if I so choose to next summer. But I figure this is a good opportunity to give the android a year and see how it fits.

I was really looking forward to at least doing a compare contrast of the iphone 5 vs. the Thunderbolt before making this decision, so this is quite disappointing. Whether or not the iphone 5 is released this summer, I am going to be breaking my contract with AT&T and switching to Verizon.
 
Seems odd Apple would release the white iPhone 4 this summer and then 3 months later, introduce the iPhone 5. That would just piss off everyone who bought one.

Maybe they'll wait to release the white iPhone as a "oh yeah" moment when the iPhone 5 is announced.
 
The release of the white iPhone 4 could just be a way to boost sales without launching an entirely new product. Plus, since it uses the A4 processor, they don't need to worry about constraints on iPad 2 production.

I see a lot of people saying things like "why would Apple care about one provider in the US?" as some sort of reason for the delay. Who's to say that wasn't flipped and Verizon agreed to launch in February knowing there would not be an update this summer? Verizon has to appease those customers too. They know a new model in 4 months could lead to some unhappy subscribers.

I think the delay has more to do with LTE and NFC not being ready and the fact that the iPhone4 is still a great phone by today's standards. iOS is in more need of attention than the hardware. Not every potential Apple customer is interested in "spec-wars".
 
elverket said:
My two cents: iPhone 5 is arriving in september/october.

Why not sooner?
- WWDC offers a "preview" of iOS 5, which means it will arrive later this year. Besides: Lion and iOS 5 is already a lot of content for one keynote, and Apple has no tradition on communicating a lot of things at once (on the contrary).
Click to expand...

No, it's a preview of what's to come in iOS. You may assume it's iOS 5, but it's fully possible that iOS 5 launches in summer with iphone 5 and WWDC previews the cloud features that won't debut until 5.1, 5.2 etc. much like we had to wait for 4.2 to get airplay and 4.3 just added some significant new features. They even delayed releasing 4.0 on the iPad for some of the 4.2 features. You'll also remember that WWDC last year also talked about the future of iOS as well.

- Verizon iPhone and white iPhone this year, why would they stress the white one this spring if a new model is coming in June?
Click to expand...

They won't. It'll probably a small blurb on their site "Now available in white." Only tech sites will make a big deal about it and only the gadget inclined will see it as a major news item. Their release of the Verizon iPhone is ambiguous at this point. We don't know when the next iPhone is launching and whether or not it will be a simultaneous AT&T/Verizon launch.

- iPhone 4 is still selling very well, even though competition is catching up.
Click to expand...

Vague declaration with no supporting data. ALL iphone iterations have sold well. Do you have specific data that shows iphone 4 sales have not been tapering off as in previous generations? And what do you mean competition is catching up? Android has passed apple in number of units in customer hands in the US. The onslaught continues with the LG Thrill, LG G2x, Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Samsung Galaxy S2, Kyocera Echo, HTC Evo 3D, HTC Inspire, Samsung Infuse, Motorola Atrix 4G, Droid Bionic and many more high profile android devices before summer. The playing field is only going to get harder. WP7 is actually getting decent with the NoDo update and AT&T is getting a solid windows phone with the HD7S. Pre3 is also right around the corner. RIM is the only competition that has a bleak looking future.

It's worth noting how few specific shortcomings people want corrected for the iPhone 5;
Click to expand...

More so than previous phones? I don't remember an antennagate or glassgate level scandal for any of the previous iPhone iterations.

The 4 is still a great device in almost any respect. Apple still has a great, popular device in the market, plenty of money in the bank, and are known for taking their time perfecting their products.
Click to expand...

This statement is true for all previous iPhone generations. It adds no merit to the argument.

- Apple might be waiting for a fitting GSM/CDMA chip to arrive, enabling them to have one model for all markets (cost saving). This was not ready for the Verizon launch in January, but might be so for september. (If it was supposed to be ready for June, I think they would have postponed the Verizon launch)
Click to expand...

Not only was it ready for the Verizon launch, it's in the verizon iPhone. The Qualcomm Gobi chip is a dual mode CDMA/GSM capable worldphone. It has full 3G for CDMA/GSM support. It is even penta-band, supporting T-mobile's AWS 3G bands. The only thing it lacks is LTE support, which is not necessarily expected for the iPhone 5.
 
chrmjenkins said:
What about the iphone 4 was last year's tech at the time? It had the fastest SoC in a phone at the time, it had the densest screen (and arguably one of the highest quality), it was the thinnest, had one of the best (if not the best) cameras on a phone, etc.
Click to expand...
It wasn't. I'm planning to switch to Verizon, and the early termination fee on AT&T would've been the equivalent of about a month's service, so it was worth doing from that perspective at the time, except the iPhone 4 is last year's tech, and with two revolutionary technologies on the cusp of release--NFC, LTE--didn't make sense to lock myself in with last year's phone for two more years.
 
chrmjenkins said:
No, it's a preview of what's to come in iOS. You may assume it's iOS 5, but it's fully possible that iOS 5 launches in summer with iphone 5 and WWDC previews the cloud features that won't debut until 5.1, 5.2 etc. much like we had to wait for 4.2 to get airplay and 4.3 just added some significant new features. They even delayed releasing 4.0 on the iPad for some of the 4.2 features. You'll also remember that WWDC last year also talked about the future of iOS as well.
Click to expand...

Agreed, there is still hope. I'm not buying the fact that Apple is going to go iPhone 5-less this year.
Maybe it's due to the lack of leaks that's gotten people frustrated and so they started spreading rumors that there won't be an iPhone 5.
 
Reach9 said:
Agreed, there is still hope. I'm not buying the fact that Apple is going to go iPhone 5-less this year.
Maybe it's due to the lack of leaks that's gotten people frustrated and so they started spreading rumors that there won't be an iPhone 5.
Click to expand...

Haha if I was Apple I would intentionally 'lose' prototypes of fake iPhone 5's.. Just to screw with everyone. :)
 
Karnivore said:
I find it hard to believe. The competition is heating up quickly and Apple will be a fool not to reposnd accordingly. Since AT&T lost exclusivity they'll be pulling all stops and releasing the best Android phones to compete with Verizon. For proof look no further then Moto Atrix which handily beats iPhone 4 in just about evey category.
Click to expand...

MOST
IMPORTANTLY though that magic word mmmmmmmm SOFTWARE - No it doesn't!!

More ghz cpu yes, more ram yes, bigger screen yes, better software NO
 
Well we have until December 31st until the year is over, lots of time still for Apple to come out with a new phone..:p
 
I would love to see the proof that there is no new iPhone until 2012 in this thread and then see the proof that the iPhone 5 will be released on July 1, 2011 in the other thread you started. Good job!
 
Apple has an issue with their release cycle right now:
Spring:iPad
Summer:iPhone
Fall:iPod

The iPad gets the brunt of the issue by missing the prior years xmas sales and being long in the tooth for the next. It also releases with an iOS version that is 9 months old.
Make no mistake about it, the iPhone is Apples killer iOS device. As such it is released in sync with the latest iOS. Unfortunately part of the spectacle of the iPhone launch is lost since the just released iPad is the forerunner with the same core CPU/GPU. Who here doubts that an iPhone released in 2011 will contain an A5?
The iPod makes out the best with this schedule. Sure you've seen it all before, but it's still basically fresh. Early OS bugs have been quashed and it's release lines up well with xmas.

Based on this. I feel that it's in Apple's best interest to shake the schedule up. Personally I feel that Apple should release the iPhone+iPod in the Summer and the iPad in the Fall. The reason being that in general a person does not buy both the iPhone and iPod at the same time. This give the consumer a bit of time to save up for the iPad.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back