iPhone 5 and Mac refresh rumour madness
The iPhone 5 is going to sport a complete redesign, except it won’t. It’s going to have NFC and an edge-to-edge screen… maybe. It’s also going to be called the iPhone 4S – if it isn’t called the iPhone 5; and it’s coming “late-Augustish.” Or is it September 2011?
Apple will be refreshing the Mac Pro; actually, it’s the Mac Mini and white MacBook; or maybe they’ll definitely be launching a Thunderbolt-enabled Cinema display.
Mac OS X Lion should have launched on 14 July along with the new MacBook Air. Then again, it will probably, definitely, be out on the 20th.
The Apple rumour mill is out of control.
It always is around this time of year; but this year things are particularly bad with the launch of a new version of Apple’s PC operating system (OS), and the fact that no announcement about the new iPhone has yet been made.
After being perfectly predictable about its June/July launch schedule for their new iPhone, Apple has everyone guessing, not only about what the new iPhone will look like, but when it will be announced.
Combined with the imminent launch of Mac OS X Lion, Apple fans and technophiles are champing at the bit for any information about Apple’s upcoming product line.
This has led to rumour round-ups similar to this one, rumour curation, and even a plea from PCMag.com’s Sascha Segan to stop the insanity.
Rather than trying to predict which rumours will turn out to be true or waxing philosophical about the harm all this reporting from dubious sources might be doing to technology journalism in general, here’s the latest rundown, at the time of writing, of predictions, wishful thinking and rumours.
MacBook Air "overstock" clearance sale
Mac OS X Lion, Mac refresh
9to5Mac reported that they have heard from “multiple retail sources” that Apple’s retail chain will be holding ‘employee overnights‘ on Tuesday night (tonight, but US time). They believe the likely topic to be Mac OS X Lion, the newest version of Apple’s PC OS. 9to5Mac also said that a new version of the MacBook Air is expected to launch alongside Lion, but their sources were unable to confirm the timing.
The new MacBook Air ultraportable notebooks are expected to boast better CPUs, increased storage, and a Thunderbolt port – a new high speed port for external devices developed by Apple and Intel.
9to5Mac also reported that the Mac Mini and Mac Pro would be getting a refresh and were also expected to receive Thunderbolt ports (among other things). This rumour was then revised to the white MacBook and Mac Mini getting refreshed.
That also turned out to be incorrect this week when the part numbers 9to5Mac reported belonged to a new line of MacBooks seemed to actually be for new Apple Cinema monitors that support Thunderbolt.
It is also interesting to note that Apple Premium Resellers in SA, such as DigiCape, have marked down a number of their products for an “overstock clearance” sale, including MacBook Airs, Mac Minis and iMacs.
Whether this is related to the rumoured refresh remains to be seen.
Apple iPhone 5 rumours visualised
iPhone 5 predictions and rumours
As may be expected, while Apple’s Mac line of products have enjoyed a fair share of rumour mongering, iPhone 5 rumours and predictions are even more numerous.
According to Boy Genius Report (BGR), they have been able to “independently confirm” that the iPhone 5 will sport a very different case design.
There is also talk of an iPhone 4S which is expected to be an upgraded version of the existing iPhone 4, but BGR said their source couldn’t confirm whether the iPhone 5 or 4S would be Apple’s next device.
Bloomberg reported that the next iPhone is due to be introduced in September and will have Apple’s A5 processor, the same processor used in the iPad 2 that launched earlier this year.
BGR, on the other hand, reported that their source said the next iPhone would be announced by “late August-ish”.
Moreover, it is rumoured that Apple will introduce a lower cost iPhone this year which isn’t expected to retail for more than US$350.
Until “late-Augustish” comes however, it seems those eager for news on Apple’s latest move in the smartphone industry will have to be content with the rumours and speculation.
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