Whether you know it as the iPhone 5 or think it’s going to be called the iPhone 4S – a new iPhone is coming this year. Many industry insiders are speculating that the device will make an appearance this month stateside before shipping to other countries (and hopefully the UK) before Christmas.
There is a huge amount of speculation, rumours and gossip flying about so here is what you need to know…
- 20th April 2011 – the rumour mill starts up with speculation of a new iPhone in September 2011
- 6th May 2011 – Pegatron, the Apple manufacturer was reportedly given an order of 15 million mobile devices (could it be the iPhone 5?)
- 16th May 2011 – Mobile industry analysts point towards the likelihood of a refresh rather than a completely new device saying “According to our industry checks, the device should be called iPhone 4S and include minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ support.“
- 19th July 2011 – Apple confirms a mobile device would make an appearance in Q3 of 2011
- 17th August 2011 – O2 said that they would start scaling back stock levels of the iPhone 4 to make way for a “new smartphone”
- 20th August 2011 – many retailers started to drop the price of iPhone 4 devices…could they be making way for the latest handset?
- 5th September 2011 – a screenshot of a memo to Best Buy employees seemed to indicate a 21st October launch date.
- 5th September 2011 – Macotakara, the Japanese manufacturer, confirm the device has entered production.
- 14th October 2011 – iPhone 4S released.
- 15th July 2012 – iPhone 5 rumoured to be in production.
- 12th September 2012 – iPhone 5 is announced by Apple.
There is still some speculation as to whether the latest device will be a minor refresh of the iPhone 4 (as was seen with the launch of the 3GS that followed the 3G device) or if you believe the Wall Street Journal whether the device will be a complete rethink of the design and like nothing we’ve seen before. Cloud based, curved design and next generation voice control are just some of the terms we’ve heard being banded about.
We still don’t really know when the iPhone 5 is coming to the UK but this is all we know so far – stay tuned for future updates.