Apple sends invites for September 10 special event, new iPhones expected

After a flurry of rumours, we now have official confirmation from Apple that it's hosting a special event on September 10 in San Francisco, where it's expected to announce two new iPhones and the final version of iOS 7, the next iteration of its mobile OS.

Apple has started sending invites for the special event according to a number of Apple-focused publications including Jim Dalrymple's The Loop. The event will be held at Apple's Cupertino headquarters and will start at 10am Pacific Time. 

The picture accompanying the invite features a White Apple logo surrounded with circles in different colours, in line with the colourful new UI of iOS 7 and perhaps representing the colourful shells of the iPhone 5C, the alleged budget iPhone. The image is marked by a 'This should brighten everyone's day' message.

A number of rumours including some by credible publications and journalists such as AllThingsD and Jim Dalrymple, had confirmed September 10 as the most probable date for Apple hosting a special event to announce the next generation iPhone, iPhone 5S and the low cost iPhone, iPhone 5C.

The iPhone 5S is expected to come with a brand new Apple chip, the A7, alongside 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM, retaining the form factor of the iPhone 5. A 128GB storage variant of the phone has also been rumoured. The iPhone 5S is likely to come with a larger f2.0 aperture compared to the iPhone 5, that comes with f2.4 aperture. It's also likely to sport a fingerprint reader.

The low-cost iPhone or iPhone 5C has leaked several times. Alleged pictures of the iPhone 5C have revealed a plastic polycarbonate body back panel in White, Blue, Red, Yellow and Green colours, a round camera lens and LED flash, Apple logo and iPhone branding. It's expected to be powered by a dual-core CPU, and have a 4-inch screen, just like the iPhone 5, with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels. The iPhone 5C is rumoured to have 1GB of RAM, and come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage variants. It'a also likely to sport an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.2-megapixel front facing camera camera and run iOS 7 complete with Siri which would be available in English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish.

The iPhone is usually made available to the public in major markets including US, Canada, France, Japan, Hong Kong, UK, and Singapore, around a week after the official announcement. Rumours have indicated that Apple will start selling the iPhone starting September 20. 

Phone 5S Gold and Graphite back shells leak in new videos

Looks like Apple has not been able to prevent its upcoming devices from leaking innumerable times, ahead of their rumoured launch. The next-generation iPhone, the iPhone 5S, and the low-cost iPhone, iPhone 5C, appear online in different leaks almost every day.

In line with previous rumours that pointed to the iPhone 5S being offered in two new colours, Gold and Graphite, some new videos showcasing the back shell of the next generation iPhone in these two colours have appeared online.

First spotted by 9to5Mac, a new video by TLDToday, compares the internal structure of the Gold iPhone 5S' casing with that of the iPhone 5, noting that it's much different from its predecessor. The video reveals that the space reserved for the battery has increased, and position of the logic board screws has been changed, with the logic board and chip set being expected to take less space. So, we can expect the iPhone 5S to have a better battery life in addition to a faster processor and graphics. The video also reconfirms the pill shaped dual-LED flash as seen on previously leaked cases of the iPhone 5S. 

 

Another video from DetroitBORG compare the iPhone 5S shell to the iPhone 5C shell noting that the 5C shell sports larger dimensions compared to the 5S. The iPhone branding is again in a thinner font, similar to past leaks.
 
 

The website also features a third video by iPhone jailbreaker Tanner Marsh of iCrackUriDevice fame, which features the back casing of a Graphite or Grey coloured iPhone 5S. The shell looks very similar to the Slate and Black iPhone 5 except that the colour is a bit lighter. However, this could also be an early prototype of the Slate and Black iPhone
. 

The iPhone 5S is expected to come with a brand new Apple chip, the A7, alongside 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM, retaining the form factor of the iPhone 5. A 128GB storage variant of the phone has also been rumoured. The iPhone 5S is likely to come with a larger f2.0 aperture compared to the iPhone 5, that comes with f2.4 aperture. It's also likely to sport a fingerprint reader.

Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 5S along with the iPhone 5C, the cheaper version of the iPhone, on September 10 at an event in San Francisco

Apple to begin shipping two new iPhones in September: Report

Apple has asked its Taiwan-based supplier to begin shipping two new versions of the iPhone next month, including a lower-cost model, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The Journal, citing unnamed sources, said Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision, the parent company of Foxconn in China, was readying both a standard iPhone with new upgrades and a less expensive model with fewer features.

Last week, the news site AllThingsD, part of the same company as The Journal, said Apple had scheduled a September 10 event to unveil the new smartphones as part of an effort to regain momentum.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Apple's move comes with its chief rival Samsung reportedly set to unveil its own smartphones and other devices, including a smart watch.

Speculation has centred around whether Apple will shift its strategy to include a lower-cost handset to appeal to more consumers, especially in emerging markets.

A survey released by Gartner last week said Apple's share of the smartphone market worldwide fell to 14.2 percent in the second quarter, while Samsung's share rose to 31.7 percent.

Gartner said the Google Android operating system was used on 79 percent of smartphones sold in the period.

iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C pictured alongside iPhone 5 in leaked images

iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, the next-generation iPhone and the much-rumoured low-cost iPhone respectively, have made yet another appearance in a series of images shared on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo.

The images, picked up by GSMArena.com via SimOnlyRadar.nl, give an idea of how the two new iPhone models will look compared to the existing iPhone 5. As the site notes, the iPhone 5S (left in the picture above) and iPhone 5C (centre in the picture above) are actually dummy devices, but the image highlights the differences (or lack thereof) in the size and physical appearance of the devices.

In addition to the image posted above, the site has also posted a series of other images that show the new devices from various angles.

There's nothing new to note in terms of the appearance of the phones, with the iPhone 5C sporting a White plastic body and the iPhone 5S bearing a metallic finish similar to the iPhone 5. Looking at the images, there's no way to ascertain the absence of presence of a fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 5S, as has been rumoured.

There's no fresh information in terms of specifications of either phones, to confirm or deny what we've heard earlier.

While there's no official word yet, Apple is expected to unveil the next generation iPhone and a lower-cost iPhone at a special event on September 10. A new report suggests that Apple may begin shipping both iPhones soon thereafter.

Nokia parodies Apple's iPhone ad, claims the Lumia 925 takes better photos

After its strategic partner Microsoft took pot shots at Apple's iPad, it's now Nokia's turn to parody Apple's iPhone with a new TV commercial.

Nokia has released an ad for its Lumia 925 smartphone that parodies Apple's "Photos Every Day"commercial for the iPhone and compares the Lumia 925's camera with that of the iPhone by placing photos side by side in the same frame.

The commercial starts with a voice over repeating the same lines that are featured in the iPhone ad, "Every day more photos are taken on the iPhone than any other phone." However, as we go forward, the voice over talks about how "Nokia prefers to build for quality and not just quantity." The ad then goes on to display side by side comparison shots of pictures taken in different modes on the Lumia 925 and the iPhone 5 including various 'no flash' and 'with flash' photos and Best shot and Motion blur photos. It's not surprising that the photos taken with the Lumia 925 look better than the ones taken with the iPhone 5, in the ad. 

 

After a few more seconds into the ad, it even displays the same scenes that appear in the iPhone ad and the voice over gives the message that, "Every day better photos are taken with Nokia Lumias than with any other mobile."

While Nokia clearly intends to show off the imaging prowess of its Lumia devices, as imaging is the major differentiator in its flagship phones, the parody is in bad taste, and clearly reflects Nokia's frustration at not being able to sell as many Lumia devices as it intends to. The iPhone 5 dwarfs the Lumia phones by a huge margin in terms of sales. 

The iPhone has an edge with Apple's app and content ecosystem, and is an all-rounder as its camera is still considered one of the best among all smartphone shooters. It's also the most popular device when it comes to users sharing images on the Internet as more online photos are shot through the iPhone than with any other phone. Nokia's Lumia devices on the other hand are crippled by Windows Phone, Microsoft's mobile operating system which is facing a major app problem, that is evenacknowledged by Nokia execs. 

It's interesting to note that despite Microsoft releasing similar parody ads for its Surface tablet, the offering has not been able to do well and have yet to make any profit.