Apple's iPhone 5 may have been delayed beyond the summer, according to a blog report. That would be in keeping with speculation that the device's release has been pushed back.
Apple may
indeed delay the next iPhone until later in 2011 or beyond, according to a new
report. That would represent a radical adjustment from the company's usual
habit of releasing the latest version of its smartphone every summer.
The blog
MacRumors posted May 4 about an unnamed reader
who "received word from an AT&T customer care representative" that the next
iPhone won't be released in the next few months.
"Apple has
informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July
timeframe," the blog quotes the AT&T agent as telling its source, "though
there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been
given a release time for a new phone."
MacRumors
greets the information with some skepticism. However, rumors have floated
around for weeks that Apple intends to push back the release of the iPhone 5 to
sometime later in the year, if not beyond.
The Loop's Jim
Dalrymple suggested in March that Apple would delay the device until
late in 2011. "Apple's apparent focus on software in its [Worldwide Developers
Conference] announcement backs up what my own sources are saying about the
actual conference," he wrote in a March 28 posting. "This is, expect a software
show in 2011, not a hardware event."
In addition,
other sources have suggested to the blog TechCrunch that the actual release of
iOS 5, the next iteration of Apple's mobile software, could also be delayed
until fall. Combined with an iPhone 5 launch in that period, it would represent
a significant departure from the company's previous release roadmap.
"The new iOS
will be heavily built around the cloud, and we could see several new services
launch from Apple that take advantage of this," read TechCrunch's
March 26 report. "But much of the cloud stuff
will be talked about first at WWD."
Current rumors
suggest the iPhone 5 will feature higher-resolution cameras, Apple's A5
proprietary processor, hardware upgraded to enable 3G FaceTime video
conferencing, and NFC (near-field communication) technology that would enable
the smartphone to act as an electronic wallet. In combination, those features
could allow Apple to combat the growing (and increasingly sophisticated) family
of Google Android devices.
The Android
operating system held 37 percent of the U.S. market through March, according to
the latest Nielsen data, overshadowing the iPhone at 27 percent.
Other Nielsen data has the Android platform
crowding out Apple as the consumer's smartphone of choice, although both
companies hold a sizable lead in that metric over RIM's BlackBerry and
Microsoft's Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7.
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