Apple has some big announcements coming up in a little under an hour, and everyone has been trying to guess what the consumer electronics giant has up its sleeves.
“Apple To Acquire Wonderbread Shocker”
Of late, Apple has disappointed as it’s seems to be content to continue improving and refining existing technology. The most recent innovation has been the cylindrical Mac Pro, which may be an evolutionary dead end like the Cube or a total game changer in how computers are designed in the future.
What we’re expecting next week are a couple of new iPhone 5s, a final launch for iOS 7, and maybe — just maybe — the iPhone 6, along with some tweaks for the MacBook Air and the launch of the Mac Pro.
One of the iPhone options is expected to be the iPhone 5S. Think S for Screen. A higher resolution screen, a 12 megapixel camera, and global 4G LTE+ (as leaked by Deutsche Telecom) are some of the features confidently speculated upon.
It’s uncertain whether or not the 5S will come in anything other than black or white and maybe graphite. A desire for a champagne gold color has been whizzing around the tackier parts of the internet and there have been alleged leaked images to match. Never mind that the tacky factor is up there with a plastic knock-off Louis Vuitton case to carry it in.
Nothing says class like fake gold, peasants!
The 5S is expected to power up via Lightning, but who knows, maybe Apple will ditch that standard too and go for a Magsafe.
The strongly rumored iPhone 5C, a.k.a. the iPhone Lite or iPhone Cheap, is a budget iPhone 5 complete with a 4” screen, and a plastic case. Like the iPod, the phone will come in colors. None of them will be our favorites.
Possibly maybe an iPhone 5C.
China Labor Watch, a source of a lot of tech rumors (as well as numerous documented abuses of the Chinese labor force being committed by Apple), reported that, “Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines … This iPhone model with a plastic cover will soon be released on the market by Apple.”
The late Steve Jobs was allegedly against a cheap iPhone, content to just knock off the previous model. A 5C would take the place of the 4S as the entry level model, which would mean fragmentation (what with it being the one phone that uses an old-school dock connector). Apple hates fragmentation more than anything. Plus, it does kind of remind one of the original model iMacs.
Possibly maybe a bunch of iPhone 5Cs, in assorted “flavors”.
The iOS 7 gets a streamlined redesign, with Google and Apple chasing each other’s tails to produce the least human-friendly but information-rich interfaces. Taking a major cue from Android, iOS 7 will allow for richer multitasking and being able to swipe between multiple running apps a la webOS or Windows Phone. A new gesture will allow you access to your phone’s control panel right from the start screen, a welcome addition for those who like to tweak settings often.
Siri for iOS 7 also gets a makeover with a more human-sounding voice and possibly a male counterpart. Apple will further cut ties with Google, so when Siri can’t find what you’re looking for, it’ll search for it instead on Bing. We can’t promise an Apple Maps scale screw-up, but we can sure hope for it (we need the hits).
Additionally, for iOS 7, iTunes Radio will now scour all of your (hopefully, not illegally) downloaded music on all of your platforms to serve up tailored radio stations (with advertisements) that also allows you to download yet even more music. Via iTunes, naturally.
“I’m sorry, Dave, I cannot play Hootie & The Blowfish.”
There’s also talk based on a patent filed by Apple of iOS 7 being capable of interacting with future automobiles.
“A user’s portable electronic device can learn configuration preferences from a first environment, such as the user’s car and when the user visits another similar environment, such as a rented automobile.”
We doubt, however, whether or not it will be compatible with driverless Google cars or Teslas.
So what of the iPhone 6? Rumors abound:
Over at Behance, designer Johnny Plaid put a lot of the rumors together to assume what many agree is the ultimate form for an iPhone 6.
Is this the real life, or is it just a rather nice piece of concept art? (Rotate your screen upside down for the answer.)
One suggestion is a Retina 2 display, coated in graphene, which is a substance that makes Gorilla Glass look like tissue paper.
More from Johnny Plaid.
The frame could be built from indestructible Liquidmetal, according to Engadget, or an aluminum/carbon alloy, making it extremely tough. Either way, there seems to be a movement away from the “milled from a single block of aluminum” that excited so many in the early 2000s in terms of concept. A larger, 6.2” screen, fingerprint sensors in the Home button, and facial recognition in FaceTime have also been put out there.
There’s a chance that the 6 is a fantasy and only the 5S and 5C will debut, but we won’t stop hoping for a device that wows us the same way the iPhone 4 did.
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