Analyst Says Qualcomm-Powered iPhone 5 Mass Production in September
Posted 04/18/2011 at 6:33am
| by J.R. Bookwalter
Once you get over the disappointment that we’re not likely to see a new iPhone this June, you’ll probably start looking to September and wondering what we might see from an iPhone 5. Thankfully, the analysts are too, and they’re sharing their thoughts with the rest of us.
AppleInsider is reporting that the next iPhone will go into production in September, featuring only “slight modifications” from the existing model which include an eight megapixel rear camera and a new Qualcomm baseband, which could eventually unify the GSM and CDMA models into one swanky world phone.
At least that’s the view of Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who issued a note to investors on Monday morning with some details of what Apple is up to with the next iPhone. According to supply chain sources, the iPhone 5 (as we all assume it will be called) will not feature some radical new design, but rather “slight modifications” from the existing iPhone 4 -- likely a spec bump in the same manner as the iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS. (The image above is a mockup of a possible iPhone 5 that's been circulating in recent weeks.)
That spec bump is likely to include Apple’s fast new A5 processor which debuted in the iPad 2, as well as a higher resolution rear camera, which gets a bump to eight megapixels. Reportedly, Qualcomm will provide the baseband for the next iPhone, which will feature “an improved antenna design,” although the report notes separate GSM and CDMA models -- despite the fact that a Qualcomm baseband could allow Apple to offer one model that services both types of radios, commonly known as a “world phone.”
While trial production is expected to begin in August, mass production of the iPhone 5 isn’t expected until September, which is right about the time of Apple’s annual music-centric media event, which this year is expected to push the iPod out of the limelight and instead focus on the new iPhone.
Of course, along with the new iPhone 5 will also come iOS 5, which developers are expected to get a sneak preview of at this year’s WWDC which kicks off June 6. Analyst Kuo also predicts a more “dramatic” hardware revision for a sixth-generation iPhone in the first half of 2012.
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