It’s not even summer, but looks like Apple’s already prepping up for the holiday season. Until a few days ago, we’d been hearing about how Apple was planning to launch the iPhone 5S by the end of this year or possibly by early next year. But looks like the impending launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has got the company jittery, because the latest we’re hearing is that the iPhone 5’s successor could come out as soon as summer of 2013!
A lot of well known analysts have agreed on this prediction – Barclay analyst Kirk Yang, KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo and iMore blogger Rene Ritchie, to name a few. Kuo was among the first to predict the iPhone 4S’s launch in 2011, instead of an iPhone 5. According to his latest research note, Apple fans can expect not just the iPhone 5S but also a cheaper version of the iPhone for emerging markets. Kuo expects Apple to launch the iPhone 5S by July with a more powerful processor, a camera with a higher resolution and an improved flash, a fingerprint sensor for improved security and an overall body which can be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 5. Kuo feels that the cheaper iPhone could also be unveiled in July with dimensions similar to the iPhone 5S, but it would be bulkier and would have a camera with lower resolution.
Rene Ritchie has, to his credit, been quite accurate about predicting the launch dates of Apple devices in the past. Ritchie feels that Apple’s iPhone 5S could be out by August, and yes, it will of course have a more powerful processor and a better camera. But he feels that before the iPhone 5S, we can expect to see Apple launching the iPad 5 and the iPad Mini 2 by sometime in April. Kuo, however, feels that these tablets would come out only after summer.
Now, onto the iWatch – we’d been hearing about this wonder since quite some time now. And looks like Apple could finally show us this device by the end of 2013. Apparently, at least 100 employees are busy wracking their nerves designing and building this futuristic iWatch. It would function quite like a regular phone, letting users make and receive phone calls, access GPS data and also double up as a pedometer and sensor to monitor health-related information. This is something we’ve heard from both Bloomberg and The Verge.
