Ok we have held off for long enough, we are practically drowning in 3G iPhone rumours just now so it’s time to round them up in one bumper post.
Before we even start thinking about the device’s new innards, there’s all this talk of a revised form factor to take into consideration. Earlier in the week, Engadget, claimed to have had contact with a top secret source who had a chance to check the new iPhone out.
Apparently the most obvious difference in appearance is that the metallic back has been replaced by a glossy black plastic shell while the volume buttons are now said to be chrome. It is also supposedly a little less angular and slightly thicker than the first iPhone, though overall it is said to be roughly the same size as the original unit. It is also said to include a flush, as opposed to a recessed, headphone jack and the battery is still not removable.
Meanwhile, a completely separate list of details has emerged from iLounge, which claims its source as various nameless accessory manufacturers who have a list of specifications that they are working to. The specifications are extremely specific and some of them match Engadget’s claims.
First of all it is claimed again that the device will in fact have a glossy plastic shell but with a metallic bezel on the front framing the screen much like the current model. It is also claimed that there could be three colour options; black, white and red. Other than that, the other big physical difference is that the edges on the back of the device are apparently tapered much like the edges of the MacBook Air, thicker in the middle than the sides.
The really interesting bit is that where the original iPhone had proximity and ambient light sensors housed next to the speaker at the top, the new device apparently has a third sensor – iChat camera anyone?
As for the guts, besides the obvious inclusion of 3G and our hope that built-in GPS will feature too Apple Insider has been reporting that the new version of the iPhone may include a beefed up version of the iPhone’s current ARM graphics chip. Apparently the new chip, which like the previous one is designed by Imagination Technologies and manufactured by Samsung, will introduce OpenGL ES 2.0 support as well as a Universal Scalable Shader Engine capable of highly efficient, shader-based 3D graphics.
Apparently the chip will be exclusive to the next-gen iPhone owing to a secret deal between Apple, Samsung and Imagination Technologies, though nothing has been announced or set in stone, so far as we know. We have to say, it would seem strange for Apple to outdate the existing iPhone hardware in the graphics department so soon, especially seeing as the SDK has only just been released.
Quite a stockpile of rumours we have here then, but separating the true from the not so true would require a clairvoyant like superpower that sadly we don’t possess. What we will say is that if we were to put money on anything it would be that the new iPhone will feature a glossy plastic finish as opposed to a metallic one and that it will include GPS. The same rumours have been reported by so many independent sources, that it’s getting hard to discredit those features. No smoke without fire as they say…
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