News tagged ‘rumors’
Rumors: Apple Is Interested In Taking Virgin’s Prime Location In Paris
Interior of Virgin Store on Champs-Élysées
French newspaper Le Figaro
Apple Issues Invitations for iPad 3 Media Event on March 7
On Tuesday Apple sent out official invitations for the iPad 3 media event which indeed will be held next Wednesday, March 7, in San Francisco. In fact, the invitation itself could even be a picture of the new iPad display. The image does show a very crisp iPad screen that could be a higher resolution than the current iPad 2.
The March 7 event will be held at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Calif., the same place the last two iPad unveilings have been held. The invitation features a finger pushing down on an iOS calendar icon with March 7 as the date.
"We have something you really have to see. And touch," the invitation reads.
Rumors: iPad 3 will cost $70-80 more than iPad 2
Chinese microblogging site
iPad 3 will probably cost a bit more compared to iPad 2:
The headings are labled left to right: "Apple iPad Model", "iPad 2 US Price", "iPad 3 US Price", "iPad 3 RMB equivalent price". The final column is calculated on the exchange rate.
Apple is working two chips - enhanced A5 chip (A5X) and completely new A6
Apple is working on both an enhanced A5 (A5X) chip and a new A6 chip, according to 9to5Mac.
The site noticed that the original iPad's A4 chip was called S5L8930X, the iPad 2's A5 chip was called the S5L8940X, and the recently leaked A5X chip was labeled as S5L8945X. Going from the A4 to the A5 chip saw a jump of 10 in the labeling but going from the A5 to the A5X only had a jump of 5. Thus, the site surmised that the A6 should consequently be called the S5L8950X.
Now evidence of an S5L8950X (A6) chip has been found in the iOS 5.1 beta:
iPad 3 Front Glass Reveals No Significant Changes
Various iPad 3 parts have leaked in recent weeks, but the front panel of the alleged device has remained unseen until now. Apple.pro points to a posting on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo showing what is claimed to be the front glass and digitizer assembly from the iPad 3.
The part appears nearly identical to that of the iPad 2, with the major distinguishing feature being a relatively long ribbon cable extending up the side of the display as opposed to a shorter cable with a sideways orientation seen in the iPad 2. Other features of the iPad 3 display include the same round home button seen in all iOS devices so far and a hole in the top bezel to accommodate both the front-facing camera and the ambient light sensor.
iPad 3 will probably have A5X processor
WeiPhone site has leaked a photo of an iPad 3 logic board with A5X CPU chip. Previously it was expected that new tablet will feature A6 chip, reports MacRumors.
A date code of "1146" on the A5X indicates that it was manufactured in the 46th week of 2011, which would have corresponded to November 14-20. An "A5X" as a step-wise upgrade to the A5 corresponds with progression of processor part numbers as revealed by BGR in February. At the time the A4 was known to be the S5L8930X, the A5 as the S5L8940X and the new iPad processor as S5L8945X.
iPhone 5 Due for Release in September-October Timeframe
Citing a “reliable source”, Japanese blog Macotakara reports that Apple is expected to launch its next-generation iPhone in September or October of this year, about a year after the debut of the iPhone 4S that was released in October of 2011.
According to Asian reliable source, next iPhone will be released in September or October, and this cycle seems to be kept for years.
MacRumors also heard from a representative of a supplier known to provide parts for the iPhone that Apple's ordering plans are pointing toward a launch of new hardware in the September.
iPad 3 with More Tapered Edge and an 8 Megapixel Back Camera
Apple Daily claims to have received the photo above that shows what is claimed to be an overview shot of the new iPad 3 back enclosure (top of image) as well as a comparison shot between the original iPad, the iPad 2 and the New iPad (inset).
The shot reveals the familiar form-factor but the lightning that looks much better in the shot seems to have undergone significant changes. The iPad 3 enclosure seems to have also a more gradual taper to the edges than the iPad 2. As a result of this longer taper, the iPad 3's camera rests on the taper itself.
The absolute positioning of the camera doesn't seem that far off from the iPad 2, but the lens does appear larger. According to NextMedia, the new iPad 3 camera will see a significant upgrade to 8 megapixels. The current iPad 2 back camera is 1 megapixel in resolution.
Confirmed: iPad 3 Has a 2048x1536 Retina Display
MacRumors managed to obtain the rumored iPad 3 displays, of course, these iPad 3 screens weren't directly sourced from Apple, and examined them under a microscope to determine if they are indeed an ultra-high resolution Retina displays.
Physically, the purported iPad 3 display is the same size as the current iPad 1 and iPad 2 display at 9.7" in diagonal, and looks quite similar to the naked eye.
However, when comparing the iPad 3 display to one from an iPad 2 under a microscope, the difference in resolutions becomes readily apparent, with the iPad 3 display's pixels appearing to be one-quarter the size of those on the iPad 2.
Leave a comment, read comments [1]
iPad 3 Announcement on March 7th
Citing a "reliable source," Apple blog iMore on Monday claimed that the much anticipated iPad 3 announcement is imminent, and new whispers suggest that the date will be March 7.
Aside from the date of the announcement, iMore also claims that the iPad 3 will feature a 2048x1536 Retina display, possibly manufactured by Sharp, as well as a redesigned case that could allow for a larger battery than current models. It was reported that in order to implement the high pixel density screen, a unique dual LED backlighting arrangement would be needed, and the larger battery could be in response to the extra energy requirements. Other rumors suggest that the next-generation iPad may receive a quad-core A6 processor and "possibly" 4G LTE networking.
ITV Warns Apple (Again) Not to Use Their Name
As rumors of an Apple television set continue to swirl, The Telegraph reports that the UK TV network ITV has written a letter to Apple to warn it against using the name "iTV" for its future television product. Though, ITV said that there has been "no communication" between it and Apple. The "iTV" name was previously rumored to be used for Apple's revamped iOS powered Apple TV in 2010, which was said to have made network executives "furious."
Apple anticipated television has been called the "iTV" by some pundits, following the same branding as Apple's other popular products like the iPhone and iPad. ITV, short for Independent Television, has been on the air since 1955, and is the broadcaster of the popular show "Downton Abbey." The network has also spawned three sister channels using its same name: ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4.
Apple reportedly assured the ITV network in 2010 that Apple would not use the "iTV" name. But the death of Steve Jobs is said to raise a serious concern of the network. ITV executives are said to be concerned that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook could take a different stance from his predecessor.
Apple to Introduce iPad 3 in First Week of March
Citing unnamed sources, AllThingsD reported on Thursday that Apple's so-called "iPad 3" will debut at a special event to be held the first week in March in San Francisco.
Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these. No word yet on a street date for the iPad 3 (assuming that’s what it’s called), though my guess is retail availability will follow roughly the same schedule as that of the iPad 2: Available for purchase a week or so after the event.
Apple intern's thesis leaks secret project to port Mac OS X to ARM processors
In 2010, Tristan Schaap, who now serves as a Core OS engineer at Apple, published a Bachelor thesis on his 12-week stint as an intern with Apple's Platform Technologies Group, a subdivision of the Core OS department. The thesis revealed that the former Apple intern had been working on the secret project to port Mac OS X Snow Leopard to the ARM architecture.
According to the paper, Schaap worked with the group to get Darwin, the "lower half" of Apple's Mac OS X operating system, to boot onto an ARM processor from Marvell. During the course of the project, he achieved his goal of "booting into a multi-user prompt," though some issues still remained due to a "poor implementation on the debug hardware."
Apple iPhone 4S A5 chip incorporates Audience EarSmart noise reduction tech for Siri
Apple's A5 System on a Chip incorporates noise reduction technology by Audience, Inc., which optimizes the performance of Siri voice recognition on iPhone 4S.
Audience explains that by "imitating the complex processing that occurs from the inner ear to the brain, Audience's intelligent earSmart technology distinguishes and interprets sounds as people do naturally. In a mobile device, the earSmart processor effectively isolates and enhances the primary voice signal and suppresses surrounding noise--for both transmit and receive--to enable clear conversations nearly anywhere."
The company notes that "far-field uses are more vulnerable to background noise interference and poor voice quality given the speaker's distance from the device," an issue that has previously been noted in regard to rumors that Apple might deploy TV systems incorporating Siri voice technology.
ARM-Based MacBook Air Unlikely Based on Analyst Talk with Tim Cook
Last year we reported some interesting rumors concerning Apple’s plans on the ARM (A5) based MacBook Air. The ARM processor is the same one that is used in the iPhone and iPad. An ARM-based MacBook Air, however, would raise a number of questions about what kind of device it might actually be. The use of ARM processor would allow reducing power requirements, but with a corresponding drop in computing power.
Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner who was able to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer on Thursday reports: