Disqus
Whether you call it the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4G, or the iPhone HD isn’t important. What’s important is the the next-generation iPhone may have already been leaked, prototype-style, by Gizmodo. As much juicy information as that leak provided, there are still a lot of things unanswered about the upcoming iPhone 4G/HD. Sure, we know that the handset will likely have a front-facing camera, a larger battery (removable battery, to boot!), and that it will use a microSIM. But, that still doesn’t answer some very important questions about Apple’s next-gen iPhone HD.
We’re not going to pretend that we know what’s what with Apple’s next iPhone, but we do know what we’d like to find out. So, in the spirit of making it painfully obvious what Apple fans around the world would like to know, we’ve put together a list of seven Apple phone unknowns.
- Display resolution. Will it be the 960 x 640 resolution that’s been rumored?
We don’t know. We can speculate until the cows come home, but in the end it’s all just a really good guess. The leaked iPhone 4G didn’t give up this secret. Rumors have the display doubling the 3GS’s pixel count. - Processor speed. Will it be 1Ghz?
Again, we really have no idea. Gizmodo dissected the iPhone HD that they bought from a drunken bar patron, but they weren’t able to determine what kind of processor was powering their device. Speculation has Apple putting their new A4 processor into the iPhone, with a clock speed around 1Ghz. It would make sense for Apple to use their A4 in the iPhone – the industry standard for high-end smartphones these days is 1Ghz processor speed. Add to that the fact that the iPad works great with the A4 processor, and the fact that Apple has already invested in A4 R&D, and you get a fairly high probability that the iPhone HD will be all about the A4 processor. - Camera resolution. Will we get an 8-megapixel camera?
Apple’s first iPhone had a lowly 2-megapixel camera. The iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS boasted a slightly upgraded 3-megapixel camera. The 3GS can record video. There’s no question that the iPhone HD will record video. Hell, it’ll probably do so in HD resolution. What we don’t know, however, is what pixel density the camera’s image sensor will be packing. A 5-megapixel camera is standard issue these days, but it’d be nice to see an 8-megapixel shooter. In all likelihood, we’ll see a 5MP shooter on the next Apple phone. - Onboard storage. Is a 64GB iPhone in the cards?
Apple’s first batch of iPhones offered 8GB and 16GB of storage. The second batch bumped it up to 16GB and 32GB, same goes for the 3GS. It’s possible we’ll see a 64GB iPhone, come June. The iPad already offers that level of NAND flash memory for storage of music, photos, videos, apps, etc. It’s entirely possible that we’ll the upcoming iPhone boasting a 2x storage space upgrade over the 3GS. - Battery life. Does bigger mean better?
We know the iPhone HD will probably have a removable battery. At least that’s what Gizmodo’s prototype showed. Assuming that the prototype is a close match to what we’ll see launch in June, the removable battery will be 16% bigger than on the iPhone 3GS. That might translate into better battery life. On the one hand, the higher clock speeds of a faster processor could drain this batter just as fast as the 3GS. On the other hand, Apple did customize the architecture of the A4 processor to use less power. Any benefit to battery life will likely be minimal – it’s more important that we’ll have a removable battery. - Network. Will it be an AT&T jobby? Chance of a Verizon iPhone?
There’s been talk of the iPhone coming in CDMA-form to Verizon. We really doubt that will happen. If anything, Apple will wait until Verizon’s 4G LTE network goes live before rolling out a LTE-enabled Verizon iPhone. The CDMA iPhone, if real, will be headed to the massive Chinese market. As for the iPhone HD prototype, it used a microSIM card, confirming that it’s headed to a GSM network – GSM, as in AT&T. - Cost. Same pricing as 3GS?
This is complete speculation, but we’ll likely see Apple pushing their iPhone 4G at price-points similar to today’s iPhone 3GS. That means the lower-end model will run $199 on-contract, with the higher-end model going for $299, on-contract. There is a chance, however, that a 64GB iPhone could cost more, given the high price of NAND flash memory and Apple’s penchant for maintaining high profit margins.
There’s a lot about the iPhone 4G that we have yet to find out, but the above list should hit on most of those points. We’ll know more as Apple fesses up about their next-gen smartphone in the coming months. Let the waiting begin!
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
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