Showing posts with label updated. Show all posts
Showing posts with label updated. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Samsung Galaxy S5 release date news rumours specs and price updated
The eagerly awaited Samsung Galaxy S5 release date is growing near, with a number of recent Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours pegging the handset for a pre-MWC 2014 unveiling.
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With Samsung spokespeople having officially confirmed to TrustedReviews that a Samsung Galaxy S5 release date will be held in Q1, further reports have looked to narrow down the phones arrival, with a February 23 launch the most recent to be tipped.
Away from the phoness arrival, a senior company exec recently stated that the Samsung Galaxy S4 successor will have a focus on the screen and "feel" of the smartphone, while a selection of leaked photos suggest the S5 could even feature a brand new UI.
Although one of the most frequently repeated Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours is the phones move to an all new, premium metal body, the company has informed us that this might not be the case after all. In a recent interview, Kyle Brown, Head of Technical Product Management within Samsung’s IM division which covers smartphones, tablets and wearables, told us: "I don’t believe Samsung will go down the route of making a metal device just because other manufacturers are.”
To keep up to date with all the latest Samsung Galaxy S5 release date, news, rumours, specs and price details, bookmarket this page as we will be updating it regularly with all the latest details.
Samsung Galaxy S5 News
While a number of recent Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours have claimed the phone will become the first handset to run the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, the chipset manufacturer has hinted that this might not be the case.
With the Samsung Galaxy S5 release date tipped for Q1, speaking with TrustedReviews, Qualcomms Vice President of Marketing has revealed he does not expect the first Snapdragon 805 device to land until "mid-2014".
Giving an insight into the phones upcoming abilities, in late 2013, claimed Samsung Galaxy S5 benchmarks appeared suggesting that, despite making a jump to a rival 64 bit processor, the S5 will be slower than the iPhone 5S.
While reports have suggested that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5 clocked a score of 3303.88 in a Rightware Browsermark test, the recording is slower than both the iPhone 5Ss score of 3669.91 and even the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 which clocked 3353.07.
While the leaked Samsung Galaxy S5 benchmarks have suggested the phone will be less powerful than the iPhone 5S, further reports suggested that in a bid to save money on production costs, Samsung will drop the flagship phone from its usual AMOLED panel to a cheaper LCD offering.
However, fresh reports have suggested that the Galaxy S5 will abandon AMOLED technology in fabour of an LTPS LCD display, due to production difficulties with the 2K resolution AMOLEDs.
This is supported by the fact Samsung recently purchased a 3 per cent stake in Sharp, meaning it isnt out of the question for Sharp to manufacture screens for the next Samsung flagship.
Recently, it has been suggested that the Korean manufacturer will hold a Samsung Galaxy S5 release date in March 2014. Now, a Samsung Mobile exec has confirmed that the S5 is on target for a March/April release date alongside the second-generation Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
There are also rumours that the Galaxy S5 could launch with a premium Samsung Galaxy F handset, offering specs at the very top of those currently available.
Elsewhere, Samsung recently teased a range of potential Samsung Galaxy S5 features. Speaking at its annual Analyst Day in Seoul, South Korean, the manufacturer has suggested that its 2014 phones (i.e. the Samsung Galaxy S5) will boast impressive 2560 x 1440 pixel displays as well as 16-megapixel ISOCELL camera sensors and as much as 4GB of RAM.
Whats more, while recent Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours have pointed to the device trading in its less than impressive plastic build in favour of a new metal option, Samsung itself has stated the phone will support a 64-bit processor. While it might copy the iPhone 5S CPU, Samsung has stated the S5 will not feature an integrated fingerprint scanner.Ensuring it is not left behind, latest Samsung Galaxy S5 news has once again seen the upcoming handset tipped to run a 64-bit processor, similar to that found in the new iPhone 5S.
While Samsung’s CEO of Mobile Shin Jong-Kyun recently stated that "yes, our next smartphones will have 64-bit processing functionality," reports of production issues had hinted this feature might not drop until later in 2014 aboard the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Now, however, the Samsung Galaxy S5 looks set to be on the receiving end, of the PC-esque processor.
“According to the latest bits of information coming from Samsung’s homeland, the company is pretty much done with developing its in-house 64-bit CPU,” tech blog GforGames has reported. They added: “From our understanding, Samsung went past the more difficult parts of creating the CPU, and the chip is almost ready for its release.”
Further reports have suggested the Samsung Galaxy S5 release date will see the handset line up with 3GB of RAM in tow. A feature that has also been mooted for the imminent Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the S5s expansive RAM has been hinted at after the companys latest development announcement.
Speaking in recent weeks, Samsung confirmed that it had started mass production of the first 3GB low power DDR3 RAM chips for mobile devices. With the Samsung Galaxy S5 set to be the manufacturers new flagship phone, it makes sense that it will run the companys latest developments and most advanced components.
A chip that could spell more than increased speeds and improved multitasking capabilities, the Samsung Galaxy S5 RAM improvement could result in a slimmer phone with a bettery battery life. An official spokesperson for the company stated: "Samsungs new ultra-slim memory solutions will enable thinner smartphone designs and allow for additional battery space, while offering a data transfer speed of up to 2,133 megabits per second (Mbps) per pin."
Samsung Galaxy S5 Release Date
Samsung Mobile Executive Vice President, Lee Young Hee, was recently quoted as stating the Samsung Galaxy S5 release date will lie in March or April, launching alongside the Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch.
"Weve been announcing our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time. When we release our S5 device, you can also expect a Gear successor with more advanced functions, and the bulky design will also be improved," said Lee.
Its a bit of a relief to have some concrete release date info, even if it is a little unsurprising. Like its bitter rival Apple, Samsung has become something of a fan of strict annual product cycles for its leading product lines and as such has become a little bit predictable.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 hit UK retailers on April 26 after a dedicated New York launch event on March 14. The Samsung Galaxy S3 went into stores on May 29 2012 and all the way back in 2011, the Samsung Galaxy S2 launched on May 1.
Although it is believed the Samsung Galaxy S5 will hit retailers in March, it has been suggested that the phone will be unveiled during a pre-MWC 2014 press conference on February 23.
“Samsung Galaxy S5 launch – 18.00. Barcelona. 23 February. Price the same. Launch – end of April. Specs – u know them. New touchwiz," Mobile Review editor and serial launch date tipster, Eldar Murtazin Tweeted recently.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Rumours
Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours have been doing the rounds for quite some time now. The most prominent Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours to date, however, all focus on one area of the currently unconfirmed phone – its design.
With the Samsung Galaxy S4 having been widely criticised for its plastic form factor which failed to match up to the brushed metal highlights of the iPhone 5 or HTC One, Samsung is widely expected to adopt an all new finish for the S5, with new aluminium body repeatedly tipped.
The Galaxy S5 will most likely forego the flexible, curved form factor introduced with the Samsung Galaxy Round and LG G Flex, due to low yield rates and increased costs.
"The current capacity for flexible panels is not high enough for the Galaxy S5, which will be rolled out early next year," suggested Kim Jong-hyen, an analyst at Seoul-based Eugene Investment & Securities.
According to unnamed “sources close to the South Korean phone maker,” recent reports have suggested that the Samsung Galaxy S5 will be used to launch a new ‘Design 3.0’ standard within the company.
The sources stated: “While we don’t have the slightest idea what Design 3.0 really means in terms of looks, we can now confirm that Samsung will start to use aluminium for its high-end smartphones, and the Samsung Galaxy S5 will be the first one to receive this treatment.”
Further hinting at a change in design and materials, Samsung recently acquired carbon fibre specialist the SGL Group, announcing in an official statement that it would be using the high-end lightweight materials in future phones and tablets.
"Lightweight materials have become an important factor not only in industrial applications but also the consumer end markets such as digital media," Yoosung Chung, President & CEO of Samsung Petrochemical said. He added: "This partnership will position Samsung as a leading player in the development and application of carbon fibre-based products.”
"The cooperation is expected to provide a stable long-term supply of carbon fibre materials for Samsung and promote its use in various Samsung products and applications such as consumer electronics, medical devices and engineering applications,"
Samsung Galaxy S5 Specs
With the Samsung Galaxy S4 having taken smartphone specs to the next level, it is widely expected that the South Korean manufacturer will continue with a similar trend with the next-generation S5. Although few areas of the phone’s features list have yet been rumoured, certain elements have already been teased.
In January, it was rumoured that the Galaxy S5 could feature a brand new UI, a 2014 edition of the Samsung TouchWiz UX that sports a whole new redesign.
Earlier this month a Samsung design patent leaked (above) showing off a new angled-edged phone which has been mooted to the be the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5.
As you can see in the leaked UI screengrabs above, Samsung may introduce design tweaks with the S5 TouchWiz, offering a more mature feel to its currently slightly cartoonish UI.
This brand new UI could also run on a 5.25-inch QHD 2K resolution display that has recently entered production, stepping up the 5-inch Full 1080p HD screen of the S4.
The QHD panel would offer a stunning resolution of 2560 x 1440p with a 560ppi image density for sublime image quality and make it king of the current smartphone displays.
Based on an outed design filing, the phone will run a version of Google’s Android operating system (no surprises there then) as well as integrated cameras front and back.
Other recently emerged Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours have claimed the upcoming handset will make use of a new 16-megapixel smartphone camera sensor, offing high-end snaps that could finally spell the end for the dedicated compact camera.
According to further leaks, the Samsung Galaxy S5 specs sheet will see the new 16-megapixel camera sensor further bolstered by optical image stabilisation features.The revised camera component is said to be under development in Korea to replace the 13-megapixel snapper found on the existing S4.
Recent reports have claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S5 could be wrapped within a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active esque waterproof coating.
Samsung has also developed an 8GB RAM chip, just in time for the Galaxy S5 launch. The South Korean electronics giant announced the chip at the end of 2013, calling the new chip "the industrys first eight gigbit (Gb), low power double data rate 4 (LPDDR4), mobile DRAM".
The chip should use around 40 per cent less battery power and help power higher resolution displays.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Price
Although the Samsung Galaxy S5 price is a long way from being confirmed, it has already been suggested that the S5 will cost more than its already pricey predecessor.
According to the same unnamed sources who have claimed a metal bodied design will be bestowed upon the next-gen handset, the Samsung Galaxy S5 price will be bumped up by the new premium building materials.
Stay tuned for more Samsung Galaxy S5 news and rumours as more details on the S4 follow-on continue to appear.
Friday, March 28, 2014
iPhone 6 release date news rumours and price updated
There are few, if any, products in the world that spark as much consumer interest and press coverage than an update to the iPhone. The next iPhone is on its way but will it be called the iPhone 6, or the iPhone 5S?
Apple is sure to unveil its next iPhone later this year. Since 2007 when the first iPhone was released, every year has seen a new iPhone outed.
The release schedule of previous iPhones shows a very clear pattern too – Apple plans its launches with incredible precision.
iPhone – June 2007
iPhone 3G – July 2008
iPhone 3GS – June 2009
iPhone 4 – June 2010
iPhone 4S – October 2011
iPhone 5 – September 2012
The early days of the iPhone series were all about summer launches, but these days Apple has skipped a few months back. Its last two phones were unveiled in September or October.
And, naturally, we’re highly unlikely to see an iPhone 6 arrive in July given we’re already in the thick of it. A September launch is likely.
A July release date was speculated earlier in the year, the source being a leaked document from a Japanese network, but that just goes to show you can never trust rumours.
The first we hear of the Apple launch is likely to be when the invites go out, which could be as late as two weeks before the event itself. However, previous Apple events have been revealed after having their venue booking details leaked. We’ll be back as soon as any such leaks happen.
The next iPhone will launch alongside iOS 7, which was revealed at WWDC 2013 in June, again pointing towards a possible mid-September unveil – Apple says it’ll arrive in the ‘Fall’.
However, if the next iPhone turns out to be the iPhone 5S, it’s likely that we’ll have to wait until 2014 to see the iPhone 6.
That said, there is a third possibility. Some suggest that the long-rumoured ‘low-cost’ iPhone will be called the iPhone 5S, and that the next full-fat iPhone will be the iPhone 6. In that case, both may launch this year.
However, this creates some most un-Apple-like series continuity issues – namely that the iPhone 5 would have higher-end construction than the iPhone 5S.
Apple has a strict approach to pricing. It almost never cuts its prices mid-cycle, only lowering prices when an iPhone goes from being the ‘current’ model to an older legacy phone.
It’s not into doing anything that’ll devalue its products.
This policy is likely to mean the next iPhone costs roughly the same amount as the current one – which starts at £529 for the 16GB model.
The price escalates to £599 for the 32GB model and £699 for the 64GB phone.
When assessing a phone’s power, there are three main elements to consider – the CPU, the GPU and the RAM.
In pure figures terms, Apple’s iOS series CPUs have never sounded that impressive. They stuck to dual-core chips while Android rivals moved onto quad-core CPUs, but they have actually been quiet trailblazing of late.
The iPhone 5’s A6 processor uses a custom system architecture rather than the ‘off the shelf’ type seen in the vast majority of phones.
However, as our Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5 feature showed, Apple needs to play catch-up in this area. The iPhone 6 is likely to feature a quad-core processor, rumoured to be clocked at 1.2GHz. 2GB of RAM is also likely.
This would make the iPhone 6 the very first quad-core Apple mobile device. At present, the most powerful in the iOS family is the iPad 4, which stuck with a dual-core main processor.
However, it is rumoured that the iPhone 6 will use the same GPU – the graphics chip – as the iPad 4, the PowerVR SGX554MP4.
This may sound like a disappointing improvement given the iPad 4 was released in 2012, but consider the difference in screen resolution – the iPad 4 screen has over 3 million pixels, the iPhone 5 under one million.
A lower-resolution screen needs less power to render visuals of the same perceived quality.
One of the most interesting changes we’ll see in the next-generation iPhone is the introduction of a bit of colour. Claimed leaked prototypes suggest we’ll see five colours, including green, blue, pink and yellow.
Colour joined the Apple family – which has traditionally been all about black, white and silver – with the last iPod touch. You can get the aluminium rear of the music player cast in more-or-less the same shades we expect to see in the next iPhone.
This was only really made possible by the design switcheroo made by the iPhone 5. The previous two generations of iPhones prior to this one were topped with glass on both sides, and creating colour editions would have been a serious manufacturing challenge. Now that the rear of the phone is aluminium, colour editions will be much easier to produce.
However, there have been suggestions that the papped colourful iPhones are the long-rumoured ‘budget’ iPhone.
If the iPhone 6 arrives in 2013 rather than 2014, the phone will definitely run iOS 7. This software was unveiled in June and will power all new iOS devices following its release alongside the next iPhone.
Although the software is not publically available, it has already been released to developers. We know exactly what it looks and feels like already.
iOS 7 is Jonathan Ive’s redesign of the system – he was at the helm of the design team for most of Apple’s iconic products including the iPod and MacBook.
A new look is one of the most important changes. Icons are sharp rather than rounded and other aspects of the interface have taken some cues from Android.
For example, the drop-down notifications menu gives you control over phone features.
However, the system still doesn’t offer home screen widgets, which are what many iOS detractors have been asking for.
One of the most speculated-about elements of the iPhone 6 is its screen. Will it be bigger? Will it be higher-resolution?
In early 2013, there were rumours that Apple was planning to release two phone in 2013 – a 4-inch phone and a larger 4.8-inch one, the latter most likely to be dubbed ‘iPhone 6’.
iLounge’s Jeremy Horwitz clarified the rumours with his own sources, saying that while a 4.7-inch device was in prototyping stage, it’s “certainly not expected in 2013.”
Horwitz wrote in January that the iPhone 5S will arrive in 2013, will have a 4-inch screen like the iPhone 5.
It is also possible that the next-generation iPhones will use Sharp IGZO screens rather than the Sharp IPS displays used in the iPhone 5. These offer more efficient power consumption than the current type.
The next iPhone is likely to use a Sony camera sensor similar to those seen in the Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S4, if the iPhone 6 is to follow the series’s current direction.
Both the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 use an 8-megapixel Sony sensor – much as people may think Apple only uses its own components, it does not. Using the same sensor for three generations of iPhones is highly unlikely.
Most of this year’s top phones, including the Galaxy S4, use 13-megapixel Sony-manufactured camera sensors.
The two most notable exceptions are the 8.7MP Nokia Lumia 925 and HTC One, but both of those use rather different technologies to make their cameras stand out.
It’s unlikely that the iPhone 6 will make the same moves. The iPhone 6 is likely to be too slim to fit in the OIS components needed to copy the Lumia 925, and using a low-resolution, high pixel pitch sensor like the HTC One’s is a move that could misfire marketing-wise.
We expect the iPhone 6 to use a higher-resolution sensor and a familiar LED flash. Improvements in image quality are likely to be down to an improvement in lens construction and better noise reduction algorithms in the camera’s software.
There are clear improvements to be made in the iPhone 5’s camera lens too. It’s a reasonable f/2.2 construction, but beaten by several others these days, including the F/1.9 Lumia 720 and f/2.0 HTC One.
These figures are the cameras’ f-stop rating, which is the ratio between the diameter of the lens aperture and the focal length of the lens. The lower the figure the better – indicating that it’ll let in more light within the same exposure time, therefore giving the potential for faster shooting in good light and better low-light performance in gloomy situations.
The rumour mill is always flying around the launch of another iPhone but what are the rumours to look out for?
If we assume the iPhone 6 is to arrive this year, it’s unlikely to be a huge upgrade. All the rumours point to a sensible rather than hugely dynamic generational shift. We’ll get more power, a more advanced screen and updated software – although all recent iPhones will get the latter.
If the iPhone 6 is to land in 2014, it could well be a more dynamic device that, like the iPhone 5 did, changes the form of the device altogether by adding a larger screen. However, it’s too early to tell, especially given Apple is unlikely to have finalised the design of a product more than a year in advance.
Read more »
The question on everyones lips is will it be an iterative update using the same chassis as the iPhone 5, just like the iPhone 4S was to the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 3GS was to the iPhone 3G.
Besides wanting to know whether the iPhone 6 will be coming this year, many of the questions surrounding the iPhone 6 launch include whether it’ll get BlackBerry Messenger, whether it’ll get a bigger screen and whether it will follow in the footsteps of Sony’s Xperia Z and be waterproof.
Some of the most fanciful rumours making the rounds centre on the iPhone 6 having a projector, being transparent and having a hologramatic screen. It’s highly unlikely any of these will transpire in the next iteration of the iPhone but concepts and patents filed by Apple fuel the rumours.
We’ll be updating this article regularly but here’s everything we know about the iPhone 6 so far, including how itll differ from the iPhone 5.
iPhone 6 release date
Apple is sure to unveil its next iPhone later this year. Since 2007 when the first iPhone was released, every year has seen a new iPhone outed.
The release schedule of previous iPhones shows a very clear pattern too – Apple plans its launches with incredible precision.
iPhone – June 2007
iPhone 3G – July 2008
iPhone 3GS – June 2009
iPhone 4 – June 2010
iPhone 4S – October 2011
iPhone 5 – September 2012
The early days of the iPhone series were all about summer launches, but these days Apple has skipped a few months back. Its last two phones were unveiled in September or October.
And, naturally, we’re highly unlikely to see an iPhone 6 arrive in July given we’re already in the thick of it. A September launch is likely.
A July release date was speculated earlier in the year, the source being a leaked document from a Japanese network, but that just goes to show you can never trust rumours.
The first we hear of the Apple launch is likely to be when the invites go out, which could be as late as two weeks before the event itself. However, previous Apple events have been revealed after having their venue booking details leaked. We’ll be back as soon as any such leaks happen.
The next iPhone will launch alongside iOS 7, which was revealed at WWDC 2013 in June, again pointing towards a possible mid-September unveil – Apple says it’ll arrive in the ‘Fall’.
However, if the next iPhone turns out to be the iPhone 5S, it’s likely that we’ll have to wait until 2014 to see the iPhone 6.
That said, there is a third possibility. Some suggest that the long-rumoured ‘low-cost’ iPhone will be called the iPhone 5S, and that the next full-fat iPhone will be the iPhone 6. In that case, both may launch this year.
However, this creates some most un-Apple-like series continuity issues – namely that the iPhone 5 would have higher-end construction than the iPhone 5S.
iPhone 6 price
Apple has a strict approach to pricing. It almost never cuts its prices mid-cycle, only lowering prices when an iPhone goes from being the ‘current’ model to an older legacy phone.
It’s not into doing anything that’ll devalue its products.
This policy is likely to mean the next iPhone costs roughly the same amount as the current one – which starts at £529 for the 16GB model.
The price escalates to £599 for the 32GB model and £699 for the 64GB phone.
iPhone 6 specs
When assessing a phone’s power, there are three main elements to consider – the CPU, the GPU and the RAM.
In pure figures terms, Apple’s iOS series CPUs have never sounded that impressive. They stuck to dual-core chips while Android rivals moved onto quad-core CPUs, but they have actually been quiet trailblazing of late.
The iPhone 5’s A6 processor uses a custom system architecture rather than the ‘off the shelf’ type seen in the vast majority of phones.
However, as our Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5 feature showed, Apple needs to play catch-up in this area. The iPhone 6 is likely to feature a quad-core processor, rumoured to be clocked at 1.2GHz. 2GB of RAM is also likely.
This would make the iPhone 6 the very first quad-core Apple mobile device. At present, the most powerful in the iOS family is the iPad 4, which stuck with a dual-core main processor.
However, it is rumoured that the iPhone 6 will use the same GPU – the graphics chip – as the iPad 4, the PowerVR SGX554MP4.
This may sound like a disappointing improvement given the iPad 4 was released in 2012, but consider the difference in screen resolution – the iPad 4 screen has over 3 million pixels, the iPhone 5 under one million.
A lower-resolution screen needs less power to render visuals of the same perceived quality.
iPhone 6 Colours
One of the most interesting changes we’ll see in the next-generation iPhone is the introduction of a bit of colour. Claimed leaked prototypes suggest we’ll see five colours, including green, blue, pink and yellow.
Colour joined the Apple family – which has traditionally been all about black, white and silver – with the last iPod touch. You can get the aluminium rear of the music player cast in more-or-less the same shades we expect to see in the next iPhone.
This was only really made possible by the design switcheroo made by the iPhone 5. The previous two generations of iPhones prior to this one were topped with glass on both sides, and creating colour editions would have been a serious manufacturing challenge. Now that the rear of the phone is aluminium, colour editions will be much easier to produce.
However, there have been suggestions that the papped colourful iPhones are the long-rumoured ‘budget’ iPhone.
iPhone 6 software
If the iPhone 6 arrives in 2013 rather than 2014, the phone will definitely run iOS 7. This software was unveiled in June and will power all new iOS devices following its release alongside the next iPhone.
Although the software is not publically available, it has already been released to developers. We know exactly what it looks and feels like already.
iOS 7 is Jonathan Ive’s redesign of the system – he was at the helm of the design team for most of Apple’s iconic products including the iPod and MacBook.
A new look is one of the most important changes. Icons are sharp rather than rounded and other aspects of the interface have taken some cues from Android.
For example, the drop-down notifications menu gives you control over phone features.
However, the system still doesn’t offer home screen widgets, which are what many iOS detractors have been asking for.
iPhone 6 screen
One of the most speculated-about elements of the iPhone 6 is its screen. Will it be bigger? Will it be higher-resolution?
In early 2013, there were rumours that Apple was planning to release two phone in 2013 – a 4-inch phone and a larger 4.8-inch one, the latter most likely to be dubbed ‘iPhone 6’.
iLounge’s Jeremy Horwitz clarified the rumours with his own sources, saying that while a 4.7-inch device was in prototyping stage, it’s “certainly not expected in 2013.”
Horwitz wrote in January that the iPhone 5S will arrive in 2013, will have a 4-inch screen like the iPhone 5.
It is also possible that the next-generation iPhones will use Sharp IGZO screens rather than the Sharp IPS displays used in the iPhone 5. These offer more efficient power consumption than the current type.
iPhone 6 camera
The next iPhone is likely to use a Sony camera sensor similar to those seen in the Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S4, if the iPhone 6 is to follow the series’s current direction.
Both the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 use an 8-megapixel Sony sensor – much as people may think Apple only uses its own components, it does not. Using the same sensor for three generations of iPhones is highly unlikely.
Most of this year’s top phones, including the Galaxy S4, use 13-megapixel Sony-manufactured camera sensors.
The two most notable exceptions are the 8.7MP Nokia Lumia 925 and HTC One, but both of those use rather different technologies to make their cameras stand out.
It’s unlikely that the iPhone 6 will make the same moves. The iPhone 6 is likely to be too slim to fit in the OIS components needed to copy the Lumia 925, and using a low-resolution, high pixel pitch sensor like the HTC One’s is a move that could misfire marketing-wise.
We expect the iPhone 6 to use a higher-resolution sensor and a familiar LED flash. Improvements in image quality are likely to be down to an improvement in lens construction and better noise reduction algorithms in the camera’s software.
There are clear improvements to be made in the iPhone 5’s camera lens too. It’s a reasonable f/2.2 construction, but beaten by several others these days, including the F/1.9 Lumia 720 and f/2.0 HTC One.
These figures are the cameras’ f-stop rating, which is the ratio between the diameter of the lens aperture and the focal length of the lens. The lower the figure the better – indicating that it’ll let in more light within the same exposure time, therefore giving the potential for faster shooting in good light and better low-light performance in gloomy situations.
iPhone 6 rumours
The rumour mill is always flying around the launch of another iPhone but what are the rumours to look out for?
Fingerprint scanner
The integration of a fingerprint scanner in the iPhone 6 has been heavily rumoured. Apple patents suggest it could be hidden within the phones bezel.Plastic iPhone
Could the iPhone 6 be made of plastic? Not likely but there are plenty of rumours suggesting a budget iPhone may be launched on the same release date as the iPhone 6.Summer release date
In June pics of the iPhone 6 or 5S were reportedly snapped on a production line. If thats the case and production is already underway we could see an early release date in August.iPhone 6 – Worth the Upgrade?
If we assume the iPhone 6 is to arrive this year, it’s unlikely to be a huge upgrade. All the rumours point to a sensible rather than hugely dynamic generational shift. We’ll get more power, a more advanced screen and updated software – although all recent iPhones will get the latter.
If the iPhone 6 is to land in 2014, it could well be a more dynamic device that, like the iPhone 5 did, changes the form of the device altogether by adding a larger screen. However, it’s too early to tell, especially given Apple is unlikely to have finalised the design of a product more than a year in advance.
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