Fresh claim states September iPhone 5 launch as Apple v Samsung war heats up

August 08, 2012 8:03 AM EDT

While Apple [AAPL] battles Samsung in the US courts, the latest iPhone 5 release date rumor claims the new smartphone -- designed to "put Samsung to shame" -- will break cover on September 21. (Or is it 12?)

[ABOVE: Apple's latest iPad ad, introduced last night. The much-criticized series of Genius ads now appear to have been pulled.]

Thinner, with bigger screen

Stuff Magazine claims the new date citing an: "Anonymous tipster who claims to be a previous Vodafone UK employee with insider knowledge." This means you have to take the allegation with a pinch of salt, though it closely matches current speculation of a September launch. (At present we're expecting a September 12 announcement with a September 21 ship date).

The Stuff source also claims the $500-$650 iPhone 5 will carry a new 9-pin Dock connector and that the display may be larger than the 4-inch screen that's currently expected.

That the new iPhone will boast a bigger screen seems a fait accompli at this point. That's because people with access to the developer beta of the iOS SDK have dug into the code to find that the iOS simulator app within seems to possess the latent ability to display icons accurately on a 640-x-1,136 display.

The new device is also expected to use a nano-SIM card, a much smaller version of existing cards that is currently being stockpiled by carriers in anticipation of the iPhone 5 launch. The new display technology will also enable a thinner device.

The upshot of all this miniaturization is that the new iPhone will be significantly thinner (c7.6mm) than the 9.3mm iPhone 4S.


[ABOVE: A glimpse into Samsung's Galaxy design decisions.]

Apple versus Samsung, inside and outside the courtroom

iPhone 5 speculation continues to move forward, even while Samsung stands in the dock trying to explain that its devices were developed independently of the iPhone, despite the existence of an extensive document listing a range of Apple first features the company hoped to emulate in its devices. You can read that document right here, or above).

Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to upend the smartphone market, currently dominated (bar in the US) by Samsung.

  • Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster yesterday claimed the new device will drive iPhone marketshare up to 32 percent by 2015, while Android market share will fall from 58 percent to 53 percent in the same period.
  • Asymco's Horace Dediu predicts even bigger numbers. He anticipates 200 million iPhone sales in the next 12 months, predicting 170 million of these will be iPhone 5 units.

Consumers seem ready to migrate to new models. This is perhaps be driven by the relatively high product malfunction rates of some alternative smartphones.

Not only has smartphone industry growth slowed while consumers await the Apple device, but trade in second-hand iPhones on eBay recently climbed 70 percent.

“In the three days following the rumors hitting, eBay Instant Sale saw a 70 percent increase in the number of smartphone trade-in offers generated by customers to determine the current value of their phones,” an eBay spokesperson said.

There's two, perhaps three, big battles going on in the smartphone space right now.

  • First, Apple is competing with Samsung in the US courts, attempting to prove its argument that the big Korean firm copied its ideas;
  • Secondly, Apple and the wider media ecosystem are engaged in a competition to keep iPhone 5 features heavily speculated upon but unproven;
  • Third: Apple is hoping to woo consumers with the new devices when they launch.

It is important too to remember that Apple's Tim Cook is an extraordinary strategist -- this release will not be the company's last shot in its attempt to capture and maintain smartphone industry ascendancy. And that's great, because as the iPhone improves, the current litigations show competing firms will improve their devices in response.

What do you think of iPhone 5? And what is your response to the internal Samsung document published yesterday?

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