Report: iPhone 5S Launch Date; Apple's Reputation on the Line

[mynith]

Also, 3D cameras won't work that well in a device you can hold both horizontally and vertically.

 

[game junky]

I had the fortune of being in charge of my companies phone policy, so I hijacked phone upgrades every release because I could sell off my old phone to T-Mobile customers that wanted to jailbreak it for near the price I paid for the phone. I think that Android, iOS & Windows Phone have forced each manufacturer to create new revisions of their phones every 6-12 months in order to stay relevant in the market. I imagine their R&D budgets are massive because of it - they have to find a way of making their designs work with new components all the time because they have to be working on the next model before the current one is even in post-production.

Love my phone, will probably skip this revision unless they do something incredibly impressive but I will probably buy in to the new iPhone they release next year. For me, I want them to keep moving forward on all components of their phones: weight, screen res, battery life, camera quality, audio quality, out of the box color options and more accurate GPS. Thus far, Apple has done a good job doing that - with the help of AT&T & Verizon, maybe we can see the next evolution of cellular signal within the next 2 years. LTE is phenomenal, but I think they have more up their sleeve.

 

[radellaf]

"Apple needs to impress and turn heads with its next iPhone", meh, IDK about that. Longer battery life and a slightly larger screen would be great, maybe better camera in low light, but this is a case of a thing doing about all it needs to do for that kind of thing. More processor power would not help me, unless it meant more battery life for the same processor load. A lot of the other smartphones have things that are great for specs but don't improve the experience of using the phone.

 

[steevez]

So what's the guess at the new launch date then?
I was actually thinking lat July, but since Tim Cook has said "Fall", it won't be until August at the earliest, and more likely to be September.

 

[game junky]

All they have to do is improve the quality of the majority of the components and the iOS faithful will continue to upgrade as their contracts allow. I have been enjoying my iOS experience enough to continue to purchase their devices. I would guess we can expect September for the release.

 

[Klepto2k13]

<otacon72 , April 1, 2013 5:41 PM
I'll sell my 5, get 75% of what I paid for it then end up paying eh $200 for the 5S. Apple products may cost more on the outset but in the end people who own Apple products end up paying less due to them holding their resell value>

This is absolutely true. And there are reasons. For one, most phones (I'll use the most popular model at the moment- The Samsung Galaxy S4.- don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Samsung's work), they, along with almost every competitor, tend to only put out one or two software or firmware upgrades out for the life of that phone. That means once that's done- it's time to... BUY A NEW PHONE if you want to stay current. Usually the technology upgrades yearly, while most cell phone carriers put you into a 2 year contract. So now you have a choice- try to sell your now pretty much "old news" device online or give it away to the less fortunate (BTW Apple beats Android for resale value by an astonishing amount) while Apple is constantly coming out with new iOS firmware, essentially making your "old phone" New again, at least till your contract is up. I've had both the iPhone 5 as well as the Galaxy S4. I will admit I love Samsung's feel and approach to their operating system on both this and the S3, however when all apps were open there were serious lagging issues, nice concept but I don't always remember to close out my apps- so I would like a phone that can handle all I can do on it at once. Unlike Apple you can save whatever you want to a memory card, where as with Apple you have to buy more backup data on iCloud or put it on your PC or laptop if you want more room than you paid for. Another complaint I have toward apple is the fact that when they put out a new phone- this 5S for example, my 5, purchased just a few months ago, is now $100 cheaper and comes with less memory, and whatever phone was last in rotation is kicked out and replaced by that year's "99 cents w/2 year agreement" iPhone. Lucky for me, I have a 5 and my wife has a 4S, so we are both eligible to get iOS 7, which minus the fingerprint scanner, (which btw I heard works amazing), has TONS of features (admittedly mostly stolen by jailbreakers and Android's OS.) however looks like a new phone completely and is redesigned more than any other iOS since the 1st one, and now all the thoughts that would run through my head about getting another android phone is eliminated. They've taken a lot of those ideas, and the most popular jailbroken apps (Complaint #3 against Apple-Restrictions- but nothing a little absynth or RedSnow can't cure) and integrated them into the new iOS flawlessly. I was at 1st only waiting on iOS 7 to jailbreak- but I may not deem that necessary anymore. Which, in conclusion, is another point for apple- if you don't mess with those restrictions, put on the phone by apple (by jailbreaking) you are pretty much at a 0% risk for a virus, you need to download anti-viral software for Android, and worry about if your $600 phone is going to get hacked into or given some sort of malware virus that renders it useless. That's a chance I'd rather not take if I don''t have to. Not only that but the app store has like 800,000 apps or something ridiculous-1/2 of which are free... and if you don't get it free right off the bat there are always ways to get around that too (Free App of the day apps, etc)- keep your eyes peeled a lot of times you'll get what you want for free. I know this comment was a mouthful, but I keep my phones in good condition, and every time that I've upgraded iPhones, I've maintained over 75% of what I paid for it, sometimes even over half the price it was without a contract... when it comes to resale value, it the Android you should be giving away... not the Apple.