Faster processor, possible RAM bump, slightly improved camera are the obvious ones, barely worth a mention.
I'm interested in the reasons why it's been delayed (ok, technically it's not delayed because it's never been promised for any particular date, but it's later than every previous year)... I would therefore assume they're waiting for something. It might just be iOS 5, but actually the jump in iOS isn't that significant, and seems odd to delay for that. Might just be to move it closer to Christmas, which wouod be fair enough. Or maybe there's more to it, and I'd guess one of three:
- LTE - we know the chips weren't good enough recently, but maybe they'rre waiting for some better ones. While there's not much demand now, Apple have one phone a year and they might feel a little "left behind" if they waited another year. Though i'm in the UK, which has no LTE and no plans for it yet, so has no interest for me.
- RFID - (my mind's gone blank and can't think of the other name for this) - seems to be taking off this year, with several phones now incorporating it, banks pushing it harder, and lots of marketing - as with LTE, maybe Apple wanted to get this right and get it in this year.
- Redesign - maybe the adverse publicity around the iPhone 4, the antenna problems etc, means Apple will want a more visible redesign than they would originally have intended, just to avoid any negative associations. Presumably that would also mean it would be the iPhone 5, rather than the 4S.
Wouldn't put money on any of those three, but would suggest something more than a simple spec-bump will come along this year.
David
