Cheap iPhone 5s to come in different colours

A Chinese website has posted information about the upcoming iPhone 5s and a cheaper version.

The report suggest that a cheaper version of the iPhone 5s will come in a number of different colours. The first source told the site that the cheaper iPhone 5s will come in: navy, gold orange, white, and gray. The second source told the site the cheaper iPhone 5s will come in: white, pink, green, blue, and yellow orange. Although both sources claim different colours they both don't mention black.

Rendering of low cost iPhone in multiple colors

The cheaper version of the iPhone 5s is rumoured to have a polycarbonate shell to lower the cost of the iPhone and is expected to cost $350-$400 which means it would come into South Africa at about R4500-R5000.

The report suggests that the iPhone 5s and it's cheaper version will be released in September in America. This would mean it will reach South Africa in November 2013.

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Apple Testing 1.5-Inch OLED Displays for iWatch

Japanese blog Macotakara reports that Apple has begun sampling 1.5 inch OLED displays. The report suggest that Apple had originally hoped to use a 1.8 inch display for the iWatch.

In a second report which give an overview of the smart watch industry, with "market rumours" indicating that Foxconn has already received orders for Apple's smart watch. But with order volumes said to be around 1,000 units, the production run would clearly be a small-scale trial.

Rumours of an Apple iWatch were wide spread at the beginning of this year suggesting that Apple would release the iWatch this year. However information has been very quiet  for the last few month.

New iPad coming in July?

Digitimes has reported that Apple will begin trial production of the fifth generation iPad, with full product to begin in July.

The report claims that the new iPad will be narrower, thinner, and lighter than the current design, taking a number of design cues from the iPad mini. Rumors of an iPad mini-like design for the next-generation iPad have been supported by leaked photos showing what was claimed to be the front bezel and cover glass for the device, as well as photos of the device's rear shell and cases said to be based on the product's design.

New Macbook Pro & Macbook Air at WWDC

We are only 20 days away from WWDC 2013 and news is very slow. We suspect this might be because Apple will not release any new products during WWDC this year. However Apple has increase it's orders of Macbook Pro's and Macbook Airs for the second quarter. This suggests that Apple is set to give the Macbook Pro and Macbook Air a spec update during WWDC.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple would drop the non retina display Macbook's but now believe Apple will keep them due to their high demand.

CellC releases LTE for iPhone 5

Cell C have quietly opened up LTE for iPhone 5 users. We received a tip early on 11 May that there was a carrier update available which would enable LTE on the iPhone 5. Upon further investigation it seems that Cell C had even informed Apple about the change as the Apple website now shows that Cell C supports LTE in South Africa, 10 days ago this page didn't have Cell C listed.

LTE available on iPhone 5

You can enable LTE on your Cell C iPhone 5 by going to Settings, General, Cellular, and there should be an Enable LTE option there. If the option is not available go to Settings, General, Cellular, Cellular Data Network and at the bottom Reset Settings. It will let you know that there are new network carrier settings, this will update your settings to enable LTE.

According to the Cell C website LTE is still under trial and will only be available for DATA and not voice. Here are the LTE coverage maps for South Africa.

Johannesburg LTE coverage map on CellC

Durban LTE coverage map on CellC

Cape Town LTE coverage map on CellC

Pretoria LTE coverage map on CellC

iWatch?

We found these images, which we had never seen before, doing the rounds on Twitter. We have confirmed that they are not real and are just mock ups.

Having said that, they did catch our attention as the design is very similar to the iPhone 5 and of all the mock ups we have see we think this is the one that is most likely to have come out of Apple. The strap is the part that gave it away. We think Apple will do something special with the strap that fits the design of the iWatch.

Rumours about the Apple iWatch have increased over the years but in 2013 it seems that most people expect Apple to actually release the iWatch.

For the first time in over 10 years Apple has not hosted a Media event in the first 5 months of the year. This may be due to the update of almost every product during September and October 2012. During WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) Apple will give a preview of iOS 7. So far rumours suggest that Apple will not release any hardware during WWDC.

The chart below shows the interest over time for the iWatch.

Cheaper iPhone price

Analysts Gokul Hariharan and Mark Moskowitz believe that the low cost iPhone will in fact be a mid ranged iPhone and will not compete with the real cheap smartphones. The analysts point to Apple's previous introductions of the iPod nano and iPad mini as cheaper versions of their parent products that were still significantly more expensive than low-end competitors due to Apple's refusal to sacrifice quality for the sake of price.

The cheaper iPhone is expected to be prices at about $400 compared to the iPhone 5 at $650. This would mean the cheaper iPhone will cost about R5000.

At the moment this market segment is ruled by Samsung with 35% market share. Apple will be eager to gain a piece of this pie.

Apple Releases iOS 6.1.4 for iPhone 5

Apple has released a minor update for the iPhone 5, bringing an updated audio profile for speakerphone. The new version appears to only be for the iPhone 5.

The update comes in at 11,5MB and should take about 5 minutes to download and install. To update from your iPhone 5 go to Settings>General>Software Update. If you update through iTunes the file is 990MB and could take over a hour to download.

Apple in overdrive to finish iOS 7

Recent reports are suggesting that Apple is working hard to get iOS 7 ready for release. Reports are suggesting that Apple has been pulling developers from the OS X division to help with iOS software.

Since Scott Forstall, who was SVP of iOS software, was dismissed from Apple Jony Ive has taken over most of the design within Apple. Ive is set to be doing a major upgrade to to iOS software with fewer skeuomorphic design cues.

The iOS software has not had a major upgrade since the original release in 2007.

No information is available as to when iOS 7 will become available but a preview of the software is most likely to be given at WWDC.

When iOS 7 is released it will be available worldwide including South Africa

iPhone 5, 4s, 4 price in South Africa

Here are the current prices of iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, and iPhone 4 in South Africa:

iPhone 5

16GB - R 8 299.00

32GB - R 9 499.00

64GB - R 10 799.00

iPhone 4s

16GB - R 6 999.00

iPhone 4

16GB - R 4 499.00

#iWatch at WWDC?

JayJayAbels posted something very interesting online this weekend which we though we would share. Generally Apple Media invites have hidden clues to what products will be released but it seems like WWDC invites don't give as much of a clue.

Below is the invite that was sent to the media to invite them to the launch of the iPhone 5. This has been the most obvious clue Apple have ever given in an invite.

JayJayAbels claims that the invite to WWDC has cryptic clue in them. Here is his view:

It's 100%... without a doubt... referencing an iWatch.

How anyone else sees something different is beyond me.

People in this thread are missing a fundamental point. Why didn't they just use "WWDC 2013"?

WHY did they choose Roman numerals specifically?

It's easy. A quick look over at Wikipedia will show you just how important Roman numerals have been to clocks all throughout history.

They could've just used 2013. They didn't. That was done purposely and I came into this thread excited at how everyone would finally realize it was all about an iWatch. Instead there's like 4 people in this entire thread who saw what I did.

As far as the multiple colors go... I think it's also a nod to a variety of iWatch colors.

The different shape? A possible face for the iWatch. Clean and colorful.

The only thing I'm not sure of is WHY the colors are transparent. Maybe that was the only way they could show off the palette in a simple fashion?

Or maybe the face on the iWatch will have the ability to change colors?

Last year I was almost screaming the same exact sentiment. The 2012 WWDC logo absolutely referenced the Retina display. All of those colorful "squares" were popping off the logo in an attempt to convey the importance of pixels.

Make NO doubt about it... this is the year of the iWatch. And it will be announced at WWDC "MMXIII".

This is the new iPhone. Believe the hype.

News and rumours are very slow at the moment but as we get closer to WWDC we will get a better idea of what Apple will do.

WWDC sells out in under 2 minutes

Tickets for the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) went on sale at 7:00pm on Thursday 25 April and were sold out within two minutes.

In 2011 tickets sold out in 12 hours, 2012 sold out in 2 hours and now 2013 has sold out in 2 minutes.

WWDC has space for 5000 delegates every year. There have been calls for Apple to increase the number of delegates but then there would be significant problems as Apple provides personal support for developers during the conference and would be unable to provide enough support for more delegates.

In the last few years Apple have used WWDC to announce updates to OSX and iOS as well as release new products. Apple is expected to give a preview of iOS 7 and an update to OSX but rumours of any product launches are very slow despite the high expectation of an iWatch or Apple TV.

Apple Announces WWDC dates

Apple today announced that its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place June 10-14 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. The company also announced that tickets for the event, which will be priced at $1599, will go on sale tomorrow at 7:00pm South African time.

The image above is displayed on the WWDC website. The Characters "MMXIII" are the roman numerals for "2013".

Unlike Apple Media events, the WWDC banner image doesn't normally hint at what might be announced at the event. However the use on roman numerals is interesting...

Lots of 'Surprises' in the Works for Spring

During Apple's second quarter earnings call, Tim Cook gave some insight into Apple's future product plans. Although it is always hard to read into what is actually being said as Apple is extremely secretive about future products, we can gain some insight into what might be.

According to Cook, Apple has a lot of surprises in store for late 2013 and 2014, stating that "amazing new hardware, software, and services" will be coming this spring and "throughout 2014."

As you can tell from reading the above, Apple do not give too much information. What we can gain is that Apple are going to be releasing some products between September, October and November. Traditionally Apple updates it's iPod line in September and has also released a new iPhone and iPad during this time.

Rumours have suggested that Apple will release the iPhone 5s and a low cost iPhone some time in September or October and the iPad 5 with a slimmer design like the iPad Mini. The iPad mini is also expected to be updated with a retina display.

The next big thing for Apple is the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) which is hosted by Apple in June every year. Traditionally this conference has been focused on the iPhone and iOS software. We are still expecting Apple to give a preview of iOS 7 at WWDC but the question still remains "What products will they announce at WWDC?"

During the conference call there were some hints at a possible new product category. Could this be the iWatch or the Apple TV?

iPhone 5s Delayed?

More and more information is appearing supporting the claim that the iPhone 5s has been delayed due to production issues.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that issues with colour coatings for the fingerprint sensor said to be included on the iPhone 5S are likely to push back that device's launch from a June/July timeframe to perhaps September or later.

A low cost iPhone is expected to launch as the same time as the iPhone 5s but will not include the finger print sensor but carry the same 4 inch display.

iPad 5 Estimated to Be 15% Thinner

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has on a number of occasions offered accurate information on Apple's product plans, recently published a new research note outlining his expectations for Apple's fifth-generation iPad. Kuo expects mass production and shipments of the new iPad to ramp up in the August-September timeframe, with the device registering roughly 15% thinner and 25% lighter than the current full-size iPad.

The prediction of a 7.5-8.0 mm thickness is in line with previous claims that the next iPad will see a roughly 2 mm reduction from the current 9.5 mm thickness.

The iPad 5 and iPhone 5s were expected to launch in by July/August but latest news is that those dates have been pushed back due to production issues.

Mockup of current iPad, iPad 5, and iPad mini

Low Cost iPhone Rear Shell

Earlier this week, case manufacturer Tactus shared a photo of a case reportedly designed for the fifth-generation iPad, once again showing that the device is expected to be smaller than the existing iPad and take design cues from the iPad mini. 

Yesterday, the company shared some photo's of what is said to be the rear shell of Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone. In line with previous rumors, the part appears to be manufactured from plastic. 

The part fits with all the rumours about it's size, shape and that it is made from plastic. Case manufacturers have a record of manufacturing cases based on rumours and not necessarily information from Apple, however they have been correct at times.