Apple didn't let anything slip about the iPhone 5 at WWDC, so leave it to the Internet. These are the finest iPhone 5 renders so far, knocked up by Martin Hajek on Flickr.
Click through to see the full gallery.
Hajek punted out his renders of the black iPhone 5 last week, based on the backplate we spied recently. He's not the first to put together a render based on what we've been hearing rumour-wise, but these are the prettiest yet.
The iPhone as imagined by Hajek features the striped aluminium back, as well as the larger 16:9 screen that's expected to make an appearance on the next gen Jesus phone. The screen on the next iPhone is expected to be 4-inches tall but no wider than the existing 3.5-incher, and with an aspect ratio ideal for movies.
The next iPhone is expected to launch around October time, which is the same time as Windows 8. As well as the bigger screen, it'll come touting the next generation of its software, iOS 6. New additions include Apple's own mapping software (replacing Google Maps), as well as turn-by-turn navigation, meaning the phone doubles as a sat-nav.
A much-improved Siri will also be on board, thankfully capable of telling us about local businesses like pubs, restaurants and taxi services. Previously it could only do this in America.
The iPhone 5 may well have the same A5X chip as in the new iPad too, boosting performance and making it even more of a gaming heavyweight than the iPhone 4S. We could have 4G by the end of the year, so the iPhone 5 could well be 4G-equipped for super-fast surfing and downloads.
What do you think of these renders? And what are you hoping for from the next iPhone? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
Police study Murdoch's 'secret' iPhone account - The Independent
The smartphones, issued by O2 in a contract beginning in October 2009, included a handset given to James Murdoch, the former chairman and chief executive of News Corp Europe. Despite billing for the phones totalling nearly £12,000 between June last year and May this year, neither Operation Weeting nor the Leveson Inquiry was told of the existence of the smartphone accounts.
Phone text messages and emails sent and received by News International executives and advisers have provided some of the most controversial evidence heard by Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press practices and ethics.
It had been assumed that the email and text traffic from key News International executives was centred solely on their company BlackBerry account with Vodafone.
In accounts seen by The Independent, issued through 02's corporate customer services at Arlington Business Park in Leeds, Mr Murdoch's iPhone account is listed as "active".
Mr Murdoch is said to have told 02 that he specifically wanted a "white iPhone" when the smartphone was issued to him in the summer of 2009.
Katie Vanneck-Smith, listed as News International's chief marketing officer, also has an active account. Two other NI executive numbers are described as disconnected.
Between June last year – just before The Guardian revealed in July that the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had been hacked into – and the beginning of the Leveson Inquiry in November, the NI iPhone accounts were billed for £9,650.
Last night, Labour MP Tom Watson said people would be "shocked" to learn that the smartphones had been issued to key NI executives, while the company's disclosures focused only on the BlackBerry Vodafone accounts.
Mr Watson said he hoped that News Corp's Management and Standards Committee, which is responsible for all matters relating to phone hacking, would enforce its own promise of full transparency and appropriate disclosure, by revealing all the data and logs held on the discovered phones to both the police and the Leveson Inquiry. Last night, a spokeswoman for News International, said: "Mr Murdoch fully co-operated with the Leveson Inquiry. It is ridiculous to suggest that James Murdoch keeps or kept a 'secret phone'."
Meanwhile sources close to the Leveson Inquiry have denied that Lord Justice Leveson threatened to quit his judicial investigation following comments made in February by Michael Gove.
The Education Secretary told a gathering of political journalists that the inquiry into press ethics and practices was creating a "chilling atmosphere" towards press freedom.
During Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons the day after Mr Gove's lobby speech, David Cameron appeared to back his cabinet colleague's view. Concern that Mr Gove might be the Prime Minister's advance messenger prompted Lord Justice Leveson to call the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood.
Whitehall sources say Lord Justice Leveson wanted to learn directly from Mr Cameron whether his inquiry was wasting public money on an ultimately futile exercise or whether his initial remit stood. Although the reassurances from No 10 took two days to arrive, sources claim there was no threat from the judge to resign from his own inquiry.
Former News International chairman James Murdoch and other executives had 'secret' mobile phones - Daily Mail
- Labour MP Tom Watson said he wanted to know what emails and text messages were sent from the 'secret' phones
- Questions raised over whether they were declared to the Leveson Inquiry
- They could reveal how much contact the Murdochs had with Downing Street over BSkyB bid
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James Murdoch makes use of a second phone
James Murdoch has come under fire over fresh revelations that he and other News International bosses made use of a second mobile phone.
It is believed the former chairman and three other executives received new iPhones in 2009, in addition to their existing phones.
Questions are now being asked about whether the executives disclosed their existence to the Leveson Inquiry into media standards.
According to the Sunday Mirror the monthly bill for the four phones regularly exceeded 1,000 and reached more than 3,000 the month following David Cameron's announcement of the inquiry into press ethics last July.
The phones are thought to be supplied by O2 and not Vodafone which is News International's usual supplier.
There is no suggestion the phones were used for phone hacking but it is believed they could reveal just how much contact the Murdochs had with Downing Street in their failed bid to take over BSkyB.
One of the phones, including Mr Murdoch's, is still thought to be active while the other two have been disconnected.
Labour MP Tom Watson, who has waged a personal campaign against the Murdochs, said he would call on News International to explain why senior executives needed second phones.
He also raised questions over the content of the phones and asked whether the Leveson Inquiry had been made aware of them.
'Now that we know James Murdoch has a secret second iPhone I hope he will disclose the content of text messages and emails to the Leveson Inquiry and the police,' he said.
Tom Watson has called for James Murdoch to reveal the existence of his second phone to the Leveson Inquiry
'I'd like to know whether he used the secret phones to discuss the parliamentary inquiry with the other senior executives who were issued phones.'
A News International source confirmed the existence of the phones but said they were only acquired because they were a new development in the media industry.
The source added they were supplied by O2 because it was the only UK network supplying the new iPhone at the time.
A spokesman for the company declined to comment.
Why the iPhone does well in the US - and who's buying smartphones there - The Guardian
Here's a statistic: in the first quarter of 2012, of the 18m smartphones sold in the US through carriers, the majority went to existing smartphone owners. Less than half - about 8.6m - went to new smartphone owners: people upgrading from a featurephone or getting their first phone. (The former is more likely.)
Decided how? A combination of two sets of data. First is the analysis by Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis, who in his latest blogpost looks at the balance of smartphones sales in the US.
Evans's post is interesting in itself:
the iPhone is now roughy half of ALL smartphone sales in the USA, as reported by the operators themselves, who really ought to know. And yet globally, Android is outselling the iPhone 2:1. How to explain the discrepancy? In a word, price.
US smartphone share, 1Q 2012, by carrier. Source: Benedict Evans/Enders Analysis He explains that "Relative to most other developed markets, the US mobile market is structured around significantly higher usage, higher monthly bills and much less competition on handset subsidy".
He shows that the way US carriers set up their contracts means that an iPhone is barely more expensive than other smartphones there:
With a minimum entry price of $80/month and a handset price of $200, the minimum 24 month total cost of ownership [TCO] for an iPhone 4S in the USA is $2,120, whereas the minimum TCO for a 'free' smartphone is $1,920. For a US consumer, the potential saving from getting a cheaper smartphone instead of an iPhone is just 10% of the 24m TCO
Conversely the lowest TCO at which a consumer can get an iPhone in the UK is just $998. This is under half what they would have to pay in the USA: however, it is also possible to get a smartphone in the UK for a TCO of just $384 – 20% of the US equivalent.
Hence, an American can only save 10% over two years by getting a 'free' smartphone over an iPhone. In the UK, the iPhone is 160% more expensive than the cheapest smartphone offer.
Which would go a long way to explaining why the iPhone sells so much better in the US: it's not a very competitive market. "The iPhone 4S 16Gb is available in the UK at 10 different prices (including free), depending on what contract you take out," Evans notes. "In the USA, it costs $200 on any contract".
Now, to the other point, about the number of those smartphones going to existing owners. Evans's data says that in the first quarter of 2012, there were 18m smartphones sold through the five principal operators in the US - 9m iPhones, and 9m other smartphones.
In parallel, ComScore has a gigantic panel of mobile phone owners whom it polls every month, and it releases the data from those polls about a month behind.
Looking at the period from January to March, the installed base of smartphones (among a total of 234m users) grew from 97.9m users in the three months ending in December 2011 to its March figure, where it says 106m people owned a smartphone during the three months ending in March. That's a growth of 8.6m in the installed base - the number who have one.
That indicates that less than half (47%) went to new owners. Which suggests that the real challenge for the smartphone makers who are looking to grow - and those who are looking to get into the market - will be getting the 50% who are still using a featurephone to buy a smartphone - or even to use a smartphone in that way even if they get it. Perhaps what it really needs is for the US carriers to introduce a more competitive market. But there's no sign of that happening lately.
iPhone 5 to Resemble DSLR Camera as Apple Hints Changing Lenses in new Patent - Int'l Business Times
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According to the application, "as the quality of digital images that can be obtained with highly compact devices increases, there is increasing demand for sophisticated features."
iPhone's camera system is usually encased within the device for protection, the company said in its patent that it would be "desirable to provide a structure for a compact device that allows the end user to reconfigure the optical arrangement of the device while retaining the benefits of assembling the device using a pre-assembled digital imaging subsystem."
This means that if the patent application pushes through, the device will allow users to open the back panel without disrupting the digital imaging subsystem to change the lens or take black and white photos at low light levels.
A potential camera feature that could be included in the device is a close-up lens that reduces the minimum focal distance, allowing extreme macro photography. According to the patent application, Apple could also be working in including better shutter speeds, providing better control of image exposure.
Apple already earned a patent earlier this month for its distinctive laptop teardrop design and the company also unveiled a patent for possible changes to be made on QuickTime player. As usual, the Cupertino-based company did not comment about the new iPhone 5 rumor and the patent application.
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