According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is set to build and ship more than 30 million of its next-generation iPhone 5 handsets by the end of the year. Kuo believes that Apple is capable of reaching this target due to the anticipation and hype that’s building around the iPhone 5, which has yet to be announced or confirmed by Apple, but is largely expected to be shipping in October.
Kuo believes that the iPhone 5 will ship with the same amount of RAM memory as the iPhone 4 – 512 MB – and that the design, which features a glass front and back, will remain largely the same. It’s also rumored that the iPhone 5 will ship with a completely redesigned antenna system, which caused a huge PR nightmare for Apple during the launch of the iPhone 4. It was discovered by users and media outlets that the cellular reception of the iPhone 4 could be drastically reduced by covering the bottom left and right corners of the iPhone 4 with a hand. Apple ended up giving users a free ‘bumper’ case to offset the antenna issues, but with a new phone comes the opportunity to fix the issue.
The iPhone 5, which has been dubbed the ‘N94’ handset, will apparently also make use of Corning’s Gorilla Glass for its front and back panels. Kuo is confident that the iPhone 5 will come in both white and black, and that both colors will ship at launch. According to his sources, Kuo indicates that about sixty percent of the iPhone 5 handsets built so far have been black, with the remaining designed in white. It’s widely known that China-based manufacturer Foxconn is handling almost all of the iPhone 5 assembly duties, with Pegatron picking up the remaining fifteen percent to help boost Apple’s launch and delivery capacity.
If Kuo is correct and Apple somehow does manage to deliver 30 million iPhone 5 handsets to users around the world before the end of the 2011 calendar year, they will be smashing their own iPhone sales records. To date, the best quarter that Apple has had was the second quarter of 2011, which saw Apple shipping just over 20 million handsets through the end of June.
The report also alluded to an improved rear camera coming with the iPhone 5. Rumors have speculated that the camera will be an 8 megapixel module built by Sony, and may or may not feature an LED flash on the opposite side of the handset from the lens which is meant to reduce red-eye artifacts in photos. Kuo believes that the size of the rear camera lens and circuitry is one of the major reasons that the iPhone 5 will have a similar design to its predecessor, but with the rumor mill working furiously to try to determine what the iPhone 5 is all about, this could change.
One thing is certain: the launch of the iPhone 5 is getting closer by the day. Stay tuned for further information and expect an official announcement from Apple any day now.
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