Sharp's president says screens for the new iPhone are to start shipping this month, but offers no other details.
As anticipation builds for the impending
release of Apples latest iteration of the popular iPhone smartphone, generally
referred to as the iPhone 5, electronics manufacturer Sharp let slip that the
company is preparing to ship the screens for the handset this month, Reuters
reported. Sharp president Takashi Okuda revealed the information during a Tokyo press
conference concerning the companys quarterly earnings report. "Shipments
will start in August," Okuda was reported as saying, without elaborating
on specific dates.
The latest iPhones enlarged screen is the
subject of much speculation, with rumors suggesting the screen will be bumped
up to 4 inches from the current 3.5-inch screen found on every model of the
iPhone since its debut in 2007. As competitors like Samsung debut new Google
Android smartphones with increasingly large displaysSamsungs Galaxy S III
boasts a 4.8-inch a high definition (HD) display with a 1280x720-pixel
resolutionApple needs to wow consumers with the new iPhone, which is expected
to be released at a special press event Sept. 12.
Aside from a larger screen and thinner body,
the new iPhone is expected to offer a host of updated features, including the
latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 6, announced during the
companys Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. The handset is likely
to offer other enhanced features to better compete with Android smartphones,
such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE), near-field communication (NFC) capabilities
and a faster quad-core processor.
The most controversial feature is a
redesigned connector dock that could render accessories for previous versions
of the iPhone obsolete, a move that has angered some Apple diehards. On
Wednesday, the Mac-centric blog
iLounge
quoted two unnamed sources claiming the new dock would be an 8-pin dock and not
a 19- or 16-pin connector that previous rumors had indicated. The male
connector has 8 pins on each side, while the female connector has only 8 pins
on one side, the article
said. This enables the
iPhone/iPod/iPad (with female port) to connect to either side of a male cable
or docking plug.
While in the midst of a battle for smartphone
dominance, Apple and Samsung are also embroiled in a heated patent dispute,
with the iPhone maker alleging Samsung outwardly infringed on many of its
patents in Apple's iPhone line to incorporate the same ideas in Samsung
products. In turn, Samsung contends the contested technologies were designed
before the arrival of the iPhone, and says Apple is trying to prevent
marketplace competition by leveling unfair patent charges at rival companies.
Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion in damages from Samsung for alleged
infringement of its smartphone patents,
Fortune
reported this
week.
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