Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone.” event is just a few days away while rumors and speculations run rampants. Would it be iPhone 4S or iPhone 5? Could it be both? All will be revealed soon.
Please take this story with a grain of salt.
Back in December 2010, a source who claimed to be not Phil Schiller told me about the next iPhone that wouldn’t be released in June-July 2011. I did ask what the “iPone 5” would be like. The answer we get was “the next iPhone” wouldn’t be out as everyone expected. Came March 2011, shortly after I bought an iPad 2 the same source reaffirmed that there wouldn’t be iPhone announcement on WWDC 2011. I tweeted this:
There will be no #iPhone5 announcement at #Apple #WWDC 2011. It is all about Mac OS X Lion. September 2011 for iPhone 5 in time for Holiday.
One little mistake I made was mentioning “iPhone 5” even though the source only said “the next iPhone”.
In May 2011, I mentioned this about the next iPhone based on what the sources “not” telling me, wink wink:
- No, it will not be a “teardrop” design.
- No NFC
- No LTE
John Gruber seems to think that teardrop design is not so Apple-like design. Gruber also mentioned:
Preface: I don’t know what the new iPhone looks like. I don’t even know whether there’s only one new iPhone. The only thing I know is that there existed, months ago, “N94” prototype iPhones that looked like the iPhone 4, but which contained the iPad 2’s next-gen A5 CPU. That proves nothing, however, as I believe Apple was just as likely to build iPhone 4-lookalike prototypes whether or not they ever intended to bring them to market. Testing new internal components in disguised exteriors is an obvious strategy for a secretive company.
I truly believe that the iPhone I saw was a test unit, which looks like an iPhone 4. I assume the bumper hides the changes in the steel band. One of the iPhones below is a test unit, I won’t tell you which one though. One seems to run faster than the other. Care to take a guess?
Jokingly I asked my source if I could use the test unit and got the following reply:
Sure, you must never reveal what this iPhone is in any way. Always keep the bumper on and do not take this iPhone to the Genius Bar! By the way, you need to sign the NDA.
I was not sure if my source was joking or serious. So I told my source that I would not take the offer but I might mentioned the existence of the test unit to some select people. My source then said:
Without physical evidence, no one would believe you anyway. They are only rumors.
I realized that my source is right. I do not want the responsibility.
Until October 4th, 2011 at 10:00 A.M. Cupertino time.