Not really surprising, but nice to know: Apple will likely release its next generation iPhone in the coming quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The news that "news is coming" comes months after the California company released the long-awaited white iPhone 4 and just over a year since the iPhone 4 went on sale to ridiculously long lines.
The Journal makes its bet regarding a new iPhone—Apple famously and understandably refuses to talk about its products before they are announced—based on information garnered from Taiwanese manufacturers. "Apple's sales estimates of the new iPhone is quite aggressive. It told us to prepare to help the company meet its goal of 25 million units by the end of the year," one of Apple's suppliers told the paper. "The initial production volume will be a few million units... we were told to ship the components to assembler Hon Hai in August."
Still, the paper hedges its bets, pointing out that "shipments of the new iPhone could be delayed if Hon Hai can't improve its yield rate as the new iPhone is 'complicated and difficult to assemble.'"
As for what the new phone will boast? The paper is slim on details, beyond the obvious: It will be thinner and lighter than the last one, will probably have a better (8-megapixel) camera and it might use new memory chips. One much-discussed rumor among Apple watchers that the Journal does not discuss is the idea of two different iPhones going on the market. That theory argues that, much like when Apple began creating more affordable variations of the iPod, the iPhone is now ready for a lesser-powered little sibling. Whatever the case, we'll all find out soon enough. Meanwhile, will Apple's glass cube be returned in time for the lines?
