RUMOR: iPhone 5 delay rumors are wrong

“Even though our sources still maintain that we will see an iPhone 5 this summer, many blogs are reporting that iPhone 5 won’t come to the market before Q4 2011,” Lalit Sharma reports for TechzTalk. “John Paczkowski of All Things Digital believes that Apple will announce iPhone 5 at its Fall Music Event and will ship it in Q4 of this year. Adding more fuel to the fire, Digitimes is reporting that Apple has yet not released production roadmap for iPhone 5 indicating delay in launch. Digitimes also adds that because suppliers have not received a timetable to stop current iPhone 4 production in preparation for the next generation of iPhone. The launch of iPhone 5 might be delayed until September, or even 2012.”

“However, our sources say that Apple has never stops production of older generation of iPhone even after launch of new iPhone,” Sharma reports. “For example, Apple is still producing and shipping iPhone 3GS, 10 months after iPhone 4 launch. In case of iPhone 4, Apple started a completely new production line at Foxconn for the new handset. Our sources further add that because iPhone 5 will see some major design tweaks like bigger screen and new chipset. Apple will have to definitely start a new production line, which they normally do about 1-2 months before shipping the new product.”

Sharma reports, “Most of these iPhone 5 rumors are based on guesstimations because analysts are not getting any information from Apple’s tight-lipped supply chain. Many analysts were releasing similar reports about delay in production of both iPhone 4 last year and recently released iPad 2, before Apple actually announced and shipped the new products on time. So we should take all these iPhone 5 delay rumors with a big grain of salt.”

Read more in the full article, including discussion of an Apple streaming video service and carbon fiber iPods, here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Steven” for the heads up.]

33 Comments

  1. There was an article about Foxconn building a manufacturing plant in Brazil. Many seem to speculate that this may be the one building next version of iPhones. Digitimes will likely have no clue about this, as they mainly cover Asia.

    1. New production capacity would not be available from Brazil for quite some time.

      “Foxconn Technology Group, the company responsible for the manufacturing of Apple’s iPod, iPhone, and iPad, is said to be in talks with Brazil to invest $12 billion over the next five to six years for building new manufacturing facilities within its borders.” from CNet News.

  2. “iPhone 5 is delayed!”

    “No it isn’t!”

    “Yes it is!”

    “Nuh-uh!”

    “Uh-huh!”

    “Ow! Stop hitting!”

    “Well you said I was lying about iPhone 5 being delayed!”

    “That’s no reason to start hitting!”

    “Yes it is!”

    “No it isn’t!”

    “Kids, if you don’t stop THIS INSTANT, I’ll turn this internet around SO FAST that we’ll be home before you realize it!”

    1. Spade, you get Post of the Day. What I want to know: Is ANYBODY consistently accurate with this rumors crap? Are the “sources” anyone other than the guys who run the hot dog/sushi/chow mein carts at the various Apple and Apple-supplier locations?

  3. Apple is still busy rolling out the CDMA version of the iPhone 4 in SE Asia. Factor in the possible effects of the earthquake and tsunami on components, and it would not surprise me if the iPhone 5 were not released until later in the year.

  4. Apple knew what kind of battle they would be in before version 1 of iPhone. Apple has always released a year behind what they are actually developing. iPhone 5 is already in the hands of specific employees for testing. It will be out on time.

  5. I don’t think iPhone 5 will have any “major design tweaks,” except that it will replace the A4 with an A5. Externally, it will mostly look like iPhone 4. iPhone 4 to iPhone 5 will be similar iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS. Swap the CPU/GPU and maybe improve the camera(s), upgrade the software.

    Another factor is the recent release of the CDMA iPhone 4, which is a significantly different design. Apple is not going to do a major overhaul on that design after less than six months of sales, and I don’t think Apple will “stagger” the release of Verizon’s iPhone 5.

        1. Actually, because iPad 2 is significantly (one third) thinner and a bit lighter (while TWO new cameras and gyros are taking up space inside), part of that “slim down” probably comes from the battery being smaller (both in volume and weight). So the A5 (and its supporting chips) may actually be MORE energy efficient compared to the A4.

  6. The reason the rumor sources are varying is because there will be two iPhone 5 ship dates. AT&T will get the iPhone 5 like they normally do this june. Verizon will get it in October; it’s the one that will be announced in September.

    Verizon’s cycle is too new and to avoid all the throwback and griping to their customers who just got the iPhone 4 they’ll get the 5 a bit later. Plus some say this was something Jobs offered AT&T as a carrot. That I don’t know. But what will happen is that the upgrade dates will sync for the iPhone 6 in the summer of 2012.

  7. Another rumor disclaiming a previous rumor. Must be a slow news day. …For all the news that fit to print and unfit to print, we will make sure to have at least 12 stories per day. Wait…Next week there will be a story about another rumor about why the anti-rumor rumor is false.

  8. Apple never announced a ship date for the iPhone 5 so it cannot be delayed. What Steve Jobs said in 2007 regarding no longer participating in MacWorld was that Apple would announce products when they were ready, not on any fixed schedule.

  9. so many rumors are so far off about apple… its just a joke to read them.

    The only “Rumor” i have read recently that was remotely close… the Leaked iPad2 mockup from CES. it DID have almost everything correct. Speaker holes were wrong.. and it doesn’t say “iPad 2” the rest was spot on. I remember everyone “disproving” the video. yet… watch it with your iPad2 in hand. Check the date of the video, Jan 11th.

    Other than this, 99% of Apple “rumors” are just good for a few laughs.

      1. The “S” stands for SPEED. It’s processor, while not as fast as an A4, was much faster than the earlier processor in the original iPhone and 3G. I believe it also had more RAM. It was also the first iPhone that could take video, not just photos. And under iOS 4, iPhone 3G cannot do multitasking, while iPhone 3GS can do it.

        All the specific changes were incremental, but taken together, the iPhone 3GS was NOT a “lame” refresh. Almost two years after introduction, it is still a good product, which is why Apple still makes and sells it as AT&T’s $49 (with two-year contract) deal (and still makes an additional $400 in subsidy per sale).

        I think the next iPhone will be a similar type of improvement. The specific changes will be incremental (such as A4 to A5), but the collective effect will be more significant.

  10. one of the top rumor about the next generation iphone 5 is that, there may be many new features.

    The design and performance of iphone is going to be better.

    Still, the expected launch date is just a rumor. Apple has not started the manufacturing yet. It is supposed to start in August 2011. So the launch of iPhone 5 will delay till at least September 2011.

    Another rumor is that, the apple iPhone will have curved glass design continuing the ipod nano legacy..

    I have read it here, and posted on my blog, Technology Track.

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