New iPhone on the block: What to expect

Apple is used to rumors. It is also used to being as tight lipped about its products as humanly possible (except that one time, when an employee left his iPhone Prototype at a bar!). When you have one of the most successful smartphones in the market, it is given that there are going to be leaks, rumors and fan boys clamoring and posting every detail about your 'next big device' all over the inter-webs. The somewhat underwhelming launch of the iPhone 4S (let’s face it, there was nothing groundbreaking except Siri), means now all eyes are on Apple to see what they can come up with to take on the collective might of Android and a resurgent Microsoft. So what could Apple’s new offering be like?

WARNING: Everything you are about to read here is based on Internet rumors and leaks, none of which have been confirmed by Apple so far.

Display

Everything starts at the display and with the introduction of the retina display with the iPhone 4, Apple set itself apart from all the AMOLED's and Super-LCD's out there. Where will Apple go next? The size of the display itself, perhaps! Now, if rumors are to be believed and if the latest leak from Sharp is to be believed, then the new offering from Apple is going to have a 4 inch display. Now to put this into perspective, the current market leader when it comes to largest display isSamsung’s Galaxy Note at 5.3 inches and for Apple to be stuck on a 4 inch Display is rather strange given the success of devices like Note, you would have expected apple to go with at least a 4.5/4.7 inch display.

iOS 6

Now, we know that Apple will ship the iPhone 5 with iOS 6. The question to ask is, how big an update is iOS 6? Does it need major changes? In my view, may be not. While I have to agree that there are some features in Android I prefer over the iOS, but still the code hounds at Apple know how to keep this baby up and running. With iOS 6, they have managed to put in some features worth talking about. The full integration with Facebook and Twitter is finally here, there have been some major updates to Siri, the new maps look absolutely awesome (though it is limited at this time) and overall a total count of 200 new features (they do not disturb and the new privacy settings look great).

Internals

Ah! the spec war. 4S had a dual core chip which was more than enough for it handle all its tasks. But, we also have to factor in the fact that when the 4S launched, phones were already starting to move to quad-cores and if we go by the rumors, Apple will move to a Quad-core chip (or at least a souped up dual-core A5) with the iPhone 5. Throw in 2 GB of RAM (and the iPad’s quad-core GFX chip) and Apple may finally be one up on the competition. The dock connector may also be bought down to 8 or 19 pins (from the usual 30 pins), which would mean all your accessories with the iPhone 4 or the 4S which use the connector may no longer work. There have also been photos and leaks of the new SIM format that Apple is going to support which is the Nano SIM. Also, going by the Passbook demo for iOS 6 at WWDC, expect NFC also.

Another potential add on being talked about is whether iPhone 5 will have a larger battery. Yes, if Apple does move to quad-core and the quad-core GFX chip (please, make it happen Apple!), together with support for 4G LTE (which is a battery magnet), then a larger battery is a possibility. Also to make sure everything runs when it needs to, without sacrificing battery – iPhone 5 may need to pack in more battery power than its predecessors.

Design

Much has been said about the potential design of the new phone. With many rumors suggesting that home button may be done away with and there may be edge to edge display. Well, I really doubt if the home button will be done away with.Reason? It will be too cumbersome to replace it with an on screen button or gestures. As for edge to edge, it may happen but from the recent photo leaks, it doesn’t look like it.

Pricing

Taking an India-centric view here (barring the obvious questions like “kitna deti hai?”), the iPhone 4 launched in India for Rs. 34,500 (16 GB) and Rs. 40,900 (32 GB). Gasp!! The 4S launched for Rs. 44,500 (16 GB), Rs. 50,900 (32 GB) and Rs. 57,500 (64 GB). Double Gasp!! It is a fair evaluation of what Apple thinks of the Indian market. It is not a priority. Unfortunate as that may be, I don’t see this changing anytime soon, so expect to pay around the same price, unlessApple decides to go ahead surprise me!