Photos of the iPhone 5S, or perhaps an iPhone 5S prototype, have leaked from the Chinese supply chain. The photos show the back of the device, which is almost identical to the iPhone 5, and also the internals, where a handful of significant changes/upgrades have occurred. Perhaps most importantly, though, these photos seem to confirm that the next iPhone is merely an iteration of the iPhone 5, and not a some crazy, reimagined iPhone 6 phablet as previously rumored.
The leaked photos primarily show three things: the iPhone 5S will have a dual-LED flash on the back, a larger battery (5.92 watt-hours vs. 5.45 Wh for the iPhone 5), and a new SoC. There aren’t any photos of the front of the device, but the iPhone 5S display will probably be the same 4-inch 1136×640 unit, unless Apple is finally ready to double the resolution (which is possible, but unlikely).
iPhone 5S back, showing a dual LED flash
To squeeze in a larger battery, Apple appears to have rejigged the iPhone 5S’s logic board slightly narrower, with a few of the components being moved around slightly. The dual-LED flash is a simply upgrade, from a normal circular flash on the back of the chassis with a single LED to a pill-shaped unit with two LEDs. The new SoC is interesting, as it has a serial number, but lacks a model number (A5, A6, A6X, etc.) This is a strong indication that the phone we’re looking at is a prototype, or that the chip is a prototype. The date code on the chip reads “1243,” signifying that the chip was made in 43rd week of 2012 — long enough ago that this probably isn’t the final chip that will find its way into the iPhone 5S.
It is possible that the iPhone 5S will debut with a new A7 SoC, and then the A7X in the next iPad, but at this point we can only guess. There is a long-running rumor that Apple will eventually shift production away from Samsung’s 32nm process to TSMC’s 28nm, but such a move generally takes a long time (12+ months). If the iPhone 5S’s SoC is produced by TSMC, it could give Apple a further bump in performance and battery life over the Qualcomm and Nvidia competition.
Zooming out, these are relatively minor changes in the grand scale of things. A longer lasting battery is nice, but a faster SoC and dual-LED flash are hardly going to make or break the iPhone 5S. Still, with the massively overhauled iOS 7, and iPhone 4S users clamoring for their two-year upgrade, the iPhone 5S will undoubtedly fly off the shelves, irrespective of the hardware inside. There is a persistent rumor that Apple will finally introduce an iPhone Mini alongside the iPhone 5S in September, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment