iPhone 5 launch in September!

Apple`s next iPhone, already being dubbed the iPhone 5, is expected to launch in mid-September, with a new "nano-sim" system to enable the device, the Guardian has learned.

Sources also say that the device will introduce a new 19-pin power and control connector on its base, dumping the 30-pin connector first introduced with the third-generation iPod in April 2003.

The new phone is also expected to include 4G mobile broadband capability, but only offer compatibility with networks in the US. 4G networks in Europe and the rest of the world transmit on different frequencies and so are incompatible with US systems.

Apple will be the first major manufacturer to use the nano-sim card. Some operators began ordering the chip cards in substantial numbers even while Apple, Nokia and BlackBerry-maker RIM were still wrangling over the fine details in spring this year.

The nano-sim design is 40% smaller even than the micro-sim used in smartphones such as the iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Nokia Lumia range introduced in the past 12 months, and was only agreed by the European standards body ETSI on 1 June.

Mobile phone companies anticipate a mid-September launch for the iPhone 5, and expect demand to be extremely high as present owners of iPhone 3G and 3GS look to upgrade, and those who have not yet bought a smartphone consider a shift from an older featurephone.

The Taiwanese electronics news site Digitimes has quoted industry sources saying that Pegatron, a contract manufacturer, has begun making the new iPhone at its factory in Shanghai. It also says that Pegatron is making new versions of the iPad for a third-quarter shipment date.

Another source in China, quoted by the French site App4Phone, suggests that Apple will release the next iPhone on Friday 21 September.

BdST 2131 HRS, JUL 24, 2012

Edited by:
Sabbin Hasan, ICT Editor