The new iPhone release date is reportedly set for August 2013, according to recent Apple rumors.
If reports are to believed, Apple could also be revealing the iPhone 6 as early as the beginning of next year.
Apple Insider reports that the company is planning to build a more affordable iPhone model as well as a world mode iPhone 5S. The website cites Chinese tech news site EMSOne which claims that a “cheap edition” of the iPhone will be built by both Foxconn, Apple’s usual manufacturing partner, and Pegatron.
The iPhone release date report also claims that Foxconn will be the exclusive manufacturer of the iPhone 5S which, unlike the iPhone 5, will be a world phone that will add compatibility with new carriers. This includes China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world with nearly 700 million subscribers.
The cheaper iPhone will not be a world phone, the report claims, and will only support the frequency division duplex flavor of LTE.
A separate report out of Japan claims that Apple is planning a polycarbonate iPhone for a 2014 release date. The design will be similar to the entry-level MacBook, which was discontinued and replaced by the 11-inch MacBook Air , and may be released with a $330 price tag. That’s almost half the price of the iPhone 5 , which currently sells for $650.
According to the International Business Times , Apple is expected to include an improved camera on the iPhone 5S/iPhone 6 that will reportedly be capable of taking “super HD” pictures. That means the phone will have to have an at least 13 megapixel camera. Rumors also suggest that the company learned from the backlash it received about the lack of NFC support on the iPhone 5, and that the iPhone 5S could include support for contact-less technology that can be used to pay for items in retail stores.
Other rumored features include an A7 quad core chip processor and a Retina or IGZO screen display.
Will you be paying close attention as the iPhone release date approaches?