Despite massive amounts of rumors involving the new iPhone's screen size and construction, we've heard basically none on an updated camera. When 4S came out, we had already known about the 8 mp iSight much like we know the new one's screen size. Do you think they've done all they can do for now with 8, or is the rumor mill just pandering to less obvious stuff?
Asked by collindfletcher
Good question, I would assume they will update the camera in some way — even if only slightly — since it’s one of the most important features of the phone. I suspect the video element will see an upgrade in some way as well. Much of it may be software tweaks, but I’m expecting some sort of better lens too.
Update: As Ryan Jones points out on Twitter, there have been some whispers about what the next iPhone could pack in terms of camera.
This has been the top story on Techmeme the entire day — complete with what may well be the worst headline ever to grace Techmeme: “What’s up dock? Apple to shrink connector for iPhone 5”
The pun is bad. The inability to count is worse.
John Gruber tried to talk some people off the ledge earlier:
Regarding the article: Apple is already abandoning its own only-a-decade-old proprietary adaptor for something better and smaller; PC notebooks still ship with huge 25-year-old VGA ports. Every time I bring this up, the VGA defenders argue that of course notebooks need to ship with VGA ports, added thickness be damned, because the world is full of VGA-only projectors. But the world is also full of Apple 30-pin dock connector cables and accessories. This is how progress is made.
Finally, Rene Ritchie comes through:
While this seems like this should go without saying, because of all the questions we’ve been getting, and posts we’ve been seeing, iMore reached out to the original sources that gave us the new Dock connector story way back in February just to make doubly sure — and yes, there will be an adapter for the iPhone 5’s smaller Dock connector that will let it work with many of the accessories designed for the old 30-pin Dock connector.
Thank god. Major international crisis averted. Just imagine if Apple had forgotten! iPhone charging may have never recovered from such a blow.
alexheath:
There have been a lot of new iPhone mockups making the rounds over the last couple weeks, but these are the first that actually look plausible in my eyes. Looks like something Apple would do, if the rumors are to be believed.
I would actually love to own an iPhone that looked like this. Looking forward to this fall.
Well-done mocks. I love the iPhone 4/4S design, so I hope Apple keeps it this close.
Also, notice the “omnibox” in Mobile Safari…
(via alexheath)
No clue if these are legit or not, but not sure I understand the two-tone back. If it’s to help with signal, fine. But it sure looks odd. Why not just do an all-metal back? To keep the color option alive?
John Gruber, elaborating on the previously linked 9to5Mac report:
First, at 1136 × 640, you get a diagonal of 1,303.877 pixels after applying the Pythagorean theorem. There are no such thing as fractional pixels, but what I’m talking about here are pixels as a unit of length, equal to 1/326 inch. Divide 1,303.877 by 326 and you get 3.9996 inches. Boom, a “4-inch” display.
If Apple does indeed change the screen — which is looking increasingly likely — this thing is going to make the last few iPhone launches look very meek. There will be none in the “but it looks the same as the last one” camp. Everyone will want to upgrade.
And if they add LTE as well…
9to5Mac:
Both of these phones sport a new, larger display that is 3.999 inches diagonally. Apple will not just increase the size of the display and leave the current resolution, but will actually be adding pixels to the display. The new iPhone display resolution will be 640 x 1136. That’s an extra 176 pixels longer of a display. The screen will be the same 1.9632 inches wide, but will grow to 3.484 inches tall. This new resolution is very close to a 16:9 screen ratio, so this means that 16:9 videos can play full screen at their native aspect ratio.
Most interesting to me about this is the mockup that implies the actual size of the phone itself won’t change, just the screen will get larger (and just longer, really).
Certainly, Apple seems to have some room to maneuver here given how much black “trim” is shown on the current iPhone, but it’s not clear how this would work with the internals of the device.
Previous mockups have shown a longer device — but, of course, that means nothing.
If the device is indeed the same size, awesome. I’m all in favor of a larger screen, I just don’t want a bigger device. For all the iPhone/Android back and forth, I think we can all agree that devices like the Galaxy Note are absolutely ridiculous.
And I love, love love the notion of a 16x9 ratio for iTunes video content. The black bars drive me crazy on a screen that small. And zooming is a lame option.
