“If you believe the rumours currently fizzing down Britain’s broadband pipes, Apple has pretty much put the kibosh on iPhone 5 – at least for 2011,” Electricpig reports. “But if that’s the case, why is Apple’s public relations department – specifically the team dedicated to all things iPhone – reaching out to selected British journalists in an effort to persuade them to attend Apple’s WWDC developer jamboree on 6-10 June?”
“The obvious conclusion would be that Apple is announcing a new iPhone. Or rather, an updated model. The iPhone 4S is slated as a stop-gap before the appearance of a true, ‘&%!*, they’ve done it again!’ game-changer next year,” Electricpig writes. “While the iPhone 5 is said to have an all-aluminium back and ultra-thin profile, the iPhone 4S is expected to rock minor cosmetic changes, along with better cameras, an A5 dual-core processor and HSPA+ support, enabling faster mobile broadband.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Huh? They’re previewing Lion and iOS. This is news?
I am so ready to upgrade my 3GS, hoping all the September rumors are false and I can buy the 4S this June.
Oh I agree with ya. I have a 3GS and really could use a better camera for IG. 😉
You guys know about the iPhone 4, right? You know, the phone that started shipping almost a year ago? 😉
I’m with you. I’m a Verizon customer who has been waiting patiently for a Verizon iPhone and then decided to hold out for 5/4s. 2 years with a blackberry has been excruciatingly painful. Unfortunately when I got a smartphone Verizon hadn’t figured out that consumers might actually want one.
Damn! I’ve just bought iPhone4 last month, should have waited another two months!
Sell it at a fair price and buy the 4s 😉
Same here, but no regrets. I waited nine-years to replace my Sanyo (Sprint) phone when I bought my first iPhone. Although I bought the first-gen Touch and have since bought the first-gen iPad, I hope to get ten-years use out of my iPhone 4.
You won’t get 10 years use from an iPhone. Apple won’t support iOS 4 in 3 years or so, let alone 10. There will be vast multitudes of apps you won’t be able to use because you won’t have hardware/software requirements. Plus, it may not even work as a phone or data device on mobile networks by then, depending on how quickly (or slowly) new technologies are rolled out.
But the iPhone 4 will likely be able to use iOS 5 and so on. So I don’t see why an iPhone 4 cannot be useful for more than 3 years. Naturally, it will not have the new sensors and processing capability of future generations of iPhones.
Apple does a better job than any other company in terms of providing software updates to older hardware and adding new functionality. Your expectations seem unreasonable. Why are you so negative?
My wife is still using her “purchased the 1st day”, first gen iPhone. It’s jail borken and runs on T-Mobile, but it runs everything she wants it to run and it still just works.
LiIon Battery shelf life is about two years. Unless you want to pay $100-$200 to have the batteries replaced every couple of years, 10 years with iP4 ain’t gonna happen.
Who cares? The reason everybody hung onto their old cell phones so long is because there was never anything compelling enough in the new models to make them want to upgrade. Same reason you had the same phone on the wall in your house for decades. This paradigm doesn’t exist with the iPhones, because there ARE compelling reasons to upgrade, and it goes beyond obsolescence.
While a new iPhone won’t likely last nine years as a usable device, it will very likely be very usable for at least 3-4 years (as Zeke points out below). When you finally do upgrade, it will be because there will be very compelling new features in the hardware and the new operating system that won’t be supported by the old hardware.
Getting rid of the old and getting the new because you want the great new thing… It’s not exactly a terrible problem to have.
I’m not sure I understand holding on to the same Phone for so long. For example, you can get a 3GS for $39. That’s pretty trivial given the monthly fees. In a couple years, I’d expect the “last year” iPhones to be free with plans. I also wouldn’t expect an iPhone 4 to run much past iOS 5, maybe 6. At which point it will be a hassle to deal with apps that won’t support it.
I’m on a yearly upgrade cycle. Sell the old one, buy the new one with early upgrade qualifying subsidy. Often the price difference is negligible.
Jeeze! The ten-year thing was an arbitrary number. The point is I’ve found a home with iPhone and I’m staying for awhile.
I’ve had the iPhone four two-months and I’ve made less than ten phone calls and texted three/four times. I have however, tethered my Touch, my Mac, and my iPad simultaneously to the iPhone and it performed flawlessly.
I have a 3GS and if the upgrades for the 4S is just minor i’m going to skip it and wait for the iPhone 5 next year.
I dont need a better camera or faster processor etc, I want a shinny new revolutionary design iPhone 5.
G4Dualie:
I’m not sure it is financially a good idea to use the same phone for ten years.
When you buy an iPhone for $200 from AT&T, you sign for two years. During those two years, you are paying off the phone (which actually retails for about $700). Depending on your plan, it may take you up to 21 months to pay off the phone (you can log into AT&T’s site to find out when you become eligible for a new subsidised phone; that’s when the original phone is paid off). Once that phone is paid of and you are eligible for an upgrade, you are essentially donating about $15 per month to AT&T, until you get a new subsidised phone and sign a new AT&T contract.
Letting a contract expire without buying a new phone means giving your carrier free money every month. If you really don’t want to keep using your old iPhone, get any new smartphone (an Android device, a new iPhone, anything), renew your contract and sell that new device on e-Bay. New iPhones can fetch up to $600 (and more) on eBay. At least that way, you got compensated for giving that subsidy money to AT&T every month.
You’re assuming he did not already change his plan 8 years ago to save the $15 per month. I did. Actually, I saved $20 per month when I moved off contract with T-mobile. I use an iPhone with T-mobile.
Surely you would swap over to a cheaper contract once the phone is ‘yours’. Here in the UK I used my iPhone 1 until the iPhone 4 came out by switching my £35 a month contract to a month by month £19 one once the initial 18 months were up. Not only that but i got more minutes and texts with it. People forget that they can negotiate once their initial contract is up!
Good move on Apple’s part. The iPhone 5 will come out when usable and reliable 4G chips are available.
It will be ready when it’s ready.
everytime I play with an iphone 4 i think apple should not need to ipgrade that thing ever, its fukn perfect
Apple did the same thing with the 3G. They upgraded the processor etc and released it as the 3GS.
That’s when I bought into the iPhone because it had the functionality and storage I wanted.
Now a 4gs would suit me fine. Especially if they increase the memory to 64gb.
Comment on hanging onto phones for long time. Definitely change the plan to get a cheaper price. So not know if AT&T do this but worth a look.
The downside of buying a new phone is you have to pay the extra money for it. Granted you can sell the old one bit that still will cost your some dough.
I’ve always insisted on getting maximum life from my Apple gear. About to upgrade my Mac after eight-and-a-half years, and aiming to get five years out of my iPhone 3G.