Tomorrow night at 7PM CAT Apple will be holding a media conference to announce new things, the company based at 1 Infinite Loop has of course not divulged what these new things are but odds are that we will be seeing 2 new versions of the iPhone, a high end iPhone 5S and a lower cost iPhone 5C. Over the past 6 months the rumours and part leaks have been splattered across the internet, but as the weeks have worn on we’ve come closer to understanding which of the rumoured features will make it into the announcement tomorrow.
iPhone 5S
Faster internals
The iPhone usually heralds the start of a new processor cycle for Apple. This year would see an Apple branded A7 ARM processor which rumour has it could be up to 30% faster than the A6 it would replace. There is also a rumour that could see the significantly faster LPDDR3 RAM replace the LPDDR2 RAM that is currently used in the iPhone 5.
Fingerprint scanner
The most heavily rumoured feature of the iPhone 5S is that it will have a fingerprint scanner underneath the home button which will allow users to unlock their phones without putting in a pin code. The fingerprint scanner rumour started with Apple’s purchase of Authentec a company who has worked on biometric security features for smartphones in the past. Supporting the claim is the fact that code was found in the latest iOS beta that would enable fingerprint authentication features. At the moment it looks like Apple would only use the technology for unlocking the phone, but they could venture into mobile payment authentication in the future with the feature.
Camera upgrades
While no major upgrade in terms of sensor size is expected this year, many have pointed to the fact that a new dual LED flash could help with low light photography. Whispers are also abound that some form of optical image stabilisation will be added to the device but those haven’t seen as much traction yet. Another rumour on improving low light ability is the widening of the camera aperture to an f/2.0 lens. There is also rumour of 120fps video capture to allow for slow motion videos to become part of the iPhone repertoire.
Colour
We could be seeing a third colour option for the iPhone joining the black and white models already available with a new champagne coloured (read: gold coloured) option having been seen around the parts bins.
Storage
Could we see a 128GB iPhone? The benefits to Apple would be massive, they make the most money off of the higher end storage models of the iPhone with almost all of the increased price landing up as profit for them. While the move would make sense to some, the fact that so much media is now streamed or hosted in the cloud a 128GB option may actually make no sense at all.
iPhone 5C
The rumour of a lower cost iPhone has persisted for months now and we’re almost sure that it will be introduced to try and capture more the of the price sensitive mid range smartphone buying market that have previously been unable to afford the latest iPhone. Cost cutting measures will see the device more than likely resemble the iPhone 5 in terms of internal specification but unlike the iPhone 5 it will more than likely feature a plastic exterior in various bright colours.
Images: Sonny Dickson
