 "Apple Expected To Unveil New iPhone Next Week")
Apple looks set next week to unveil its much-awaited new iPhone, which analysts say will have a bigger screen and work better with remote computing services.
The invitation-only event will be held on October 4 at Apple campus in Cupertino, California, Xinhua.
The new iPhone would be the first major product launch under Tim Cook, who took over full-time as chief executive after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned last month. It was unclear if Jobs, who is now chairman, will take the stage at the event.
The iPhone – introduced in 2007 with the touchscreen template now adopted by its rivals – remains the gold standard in the booming smartphone market. The new model, which some have dubbed the iPhone 5, will have a bigger touch screen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera, one source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters in August.
Hon Hai Precision Industries Co Ltd and Pegatron Corp of Taiwan will make the new phone, and have been told to gear up capacity for up to 45 million units in total, the source said.
Apple launched the iPhone 4 in June 2010 in black 16 gigabyte and 32 gigabyte versions, and added white ones in April. The company typically refreshes its iPhone lineup during its developer event in June, but delayed the new model this year. Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the third quarter ended June 25, which analysts say helped it vault past Nokia and Samsung Electronics to become the world’s biggest smartphone maker.
Some analysts are expecting another version of the iPhone 4 to be launched along with the next model. “The new (iPhone) 4 will tackle the prepaid market and the (iPhone) 5 will have the A5 chip that’s in the iPad and be faster, thinner and possibly with a bigger screen,” said Colin Gillis, analyst with BGC Partners.
He cited possible voice-recognition features as well. Shares of Apple rose 0.6 percent to $405.66 on Nasdaq early Tuesday afternoon.