Putting previous rumors to rest, the latest from the iPhone rumor mill is that Apple will launch the iPhone 5 sometime in either September or October of 2012.
Putting previous rumors to rest, the latest from the iPhone rumor mill is that Apple will launch the iPhone 5 sometime in either September or October of 2012. The news come courtesy of Macotakara, which citing a “reliable source”, relays that Apple will continue its usual 1-year release cycle for the iPhone and that this cycle is expected to continue for years. It’s worth noting that a Fall iPhone 5 release date was also alluded to by an iPhone parts supplier contacted by MacRumors.
Consequently, previous reports of a Summer iPhone 5 release appear to be inaccurate. Of course, Apple had historically released new iPhone models during the Summer months, but technical glitches with the iPhone 4S forced Apple to release it a few months later, in mid-October of 2011. As a result, Apple seems to have shifted its entire iPhone release schedule in order to maintain its 1-year refresh cycle.
From a business perspective, this makes a lot of sense. If Apple goes ahead and releases the iPhone 5 in June, for example, the iPhone 4S will have only had an 8-month shelf life. Releasing a new model that soon might anger and frustrate some iPhone 4S purchasers while also, potentially, eroding excitement for the iPhone 5 as well. After all, there is wisdom behind the practice of not releasing new phone models too quickly – just try, for example, to keep up with the latest Android smartphones while maintaining your sanity. Indeed, the delayed release of the iPhone 4S didn’t do anything to dampen demand, and if anything, actually helped generate even more buzz.
Feature wise, the iPhone 5 will be a huge upgrade from the iPhone 4S and will be well worth waiting for. 4G LTE support is increasingly looking like a reality, and there have also been rumblings of a larger 4-inch screen. What’s more, we’ve also seen a few reports hinting at an iPhone with NFC functionality. Remember, Apple has over 250 million credit card accounts on file thanks to the prominence of iTunes so hooking up an NFC chip to a user’s iTunes account is an intriguing possibility. Google of course already has similar functionality with Google Wallet, but that’s hardly taken the world by storm.
Recently, it was reported that Apple will announce the iPhone 5 at WWDC 2012, poised to take place in June. An expected Fall release date makes that extremely unlikely. Apple is all about the slow build of hype. In other words, Apple likes making a product announcement and releasing said product just a week or two later, while there’s still a lot of buzz. Announcing the iPhone 5 in June only to hold off on the actual release until September simply isn’t Apple’s style. As such, an iPhone 5 announcement is likely to occur sometime this Fall as well.
