iPhone 5 rumour round-up: What we know so far

It's almost that time of year again. As soon as the sun starts blasting through the windows of Pocket Gamer towers, we're reminded that Steve Jobs will soon take to the stage and announce the annual refresh for his flagship product: the iPhone.

Apple is notoriously secretive. It doesn't hint at new features, talk about products before launch or let journalists have an sneak peak of the device. When boss man Jobs pulls the gadget out of his jeans on stage, that's the first time anyone outside Apple Inc gets a proper look.

But that doesn't stop rumours, whispers and intense speculation about the device leaking out. Before any Apple product launch, the web is awash with leaks and "reports" about the features of the new gizmo.

The iPhone 5 is no different. We've heard endless, and conflicting, reports about what chips and cameras it will have, what it will look like and when it will be released.

Here are the best iPhone 5 rumours, and our thoughts on what you should, and shouldn't, believe.

For
According to Taiwanese newspaper DigiTimes, quoting Asian component suppliers, Apple will directly compete with large-screen Androids with a blown-out, 4-inch touchscreen.

That's corroborated by "mold engineering drawings", reported on Chinese tech site idealschina, that are used by designers as guides to create a phone's outer casing. The blueprints look like the current iPhone 4, but the screen almost touches the other edge of the case to squeeze in those few extra inchlets.

Idealschina also has its hands on an allegedly real "digitizer" of Apple's new front plate, featuring a bigger screen and razor-thin bevels at the side.

Against
There's one, big technical hitch that would stop Apple from doing this: a gadget's liquid crystal display is typically a few centimetres bigger than the actual images than it can spit out.

Check out this photo from iFixit's iPhone 4 tear down, that shows the 3.7-inch screen almost scraping alongside the outer edge of the chassis. The actual panel is close to 4 inches in itself, but display technology doesn't work like that: the images don't meet every edge.

Pocket Gamer's take
It is true that the iPhone 4's screen is starting to look a little dinky in comparison with the cinema-displays of some Androids. The Galaxy S2, LG Optimus 3D and Acer Iconia all boast LCDs over 4 inches.

But changing the screensize, even by half an inch, would cause immense fragmentation on the device. Current apps and games would be stretched to accommodate, and developers would be forced to make three versions: one for old phones, one for Retina devices and one for 4-inch devices.

Apple wants to avoid fragmentation like the plague, especially as so many Android devs are bogged down in different specs and sizes. Apple would drive a lot of designers mad if they added more pixels.

For
Korean news site ETNews says that Apple will release the iPhone in the fourth week of June. It'd miss the company's WWDC conference, on June 6, but Korean providers SK Telecom and KT are certain the phone's out just before July.

This isn't the first time that a foreign provider's broke the news: Italian network Telecom Italia scooped the iPhone 3G's June 2008 launch.

Against
Multiple reports say that the iPhone 5 will miss the yearly schedule and actually come out in autumn. The Loop's Jim Dalrymple says the hardware will miss WWDC, and tech sites All Things Digital and Engadget are hearing similar claims.

Japanese blog Macotakara says the device will not ship before the end of Apple's fiscal 2011, which occurs in late September 2011.

Pocket Gamer's take
It's easy to rely on Apple's established rhythm of announcing a new iPhone every summer, making a June or July launch very believable. But there are so many reports that say Apple will delay the launch until the autumn that it's hard to block them out.

There's also that juicy rumour that Apple has ditched OmniFocus and has signed on Sony to make the iPhone 5's camera sensor.

"Given that Sony’s plant that makes these sensors was damaged by the tsunami, perhaps this is a reason why there won’t be an iPhone 5 at WWDC," posits Daring Fireball pundit John Gruber.

For
Both Engadget and The Wall Street Journal agree that Apple will roll out an entirely new form factor for the iPhone 5. Last year's antennagate issues, where holding the iPhone 4 in a certain way could result in signal issues and dropped calls, will be a thing of the past with this new design.

Another rumour suggests that Apple will ditch the iPhone 4's glassy back, and go back to the aluminium tuckus, as seen on the fourth generation iPod touch and the iPad 2.

Against
Multiple case manufacturers have already started making their iPhone 5 holders, and they look like they could hold an iPhone 4 pretty snugly too. Idealschina's mold engineering drawings might sport a bigger screen, but they also show off an iPhone 4-style device.

Pocket Gamer's take
Apple doesn't do dramatic shifts frequently. You have to be an eagle-eyed observer to really notice the changes from iPhone 3G to 3GS, or the different iPod touches. It seems unlikely that Apple would leap to the aluminium sandwich for the iPhone 4, and then head off in an entirely different direction a year later.

The iPhone 4 will probably be slimmer (an Apple patent shows how reducing the surface area of the headphone jack would reduce heft), but don't expect to see a radically different form factor.

For
Newspaper China Times says that iPhone will feature Near Field Communications (NFC) - that's the technology that turns your mobile into a virtual wallet, and lets you play for things by swiping your phone over a sensor.

Against
A source told British newspaper The Independent that the iPhone 5 will forgo NFC tech, with Apple telling mobile operators, "it was concerned by the lack of a clear standard across the industry."

Pocket Gamer's take
NFC is still a very young technology, and Apple isn't one to jump onto untested technology willynilly. Don't expect the iPhone 5 to jump on the bandwagon until near field payments are common place.

Of course, Google is a big proponent of it, and Visa and Samsung have teamed up to provice NFC pay points at London's 2012 Olympics, but it'll still be a few years before you'll seriously consider paying for your shopping with your smartphone.