Rumor: Next-gen iPhone, 'iPad mini,' new iPod nano to debut on Sept. 12

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
An early Monday report claims inside knowledge of an as yet unannounced Apple event that will supposedly usher in the next-generation iPhone, a much-rumored smaller iPad model some have taken to calling the 'iPad mini' and a new iPod nano.

Coming on the heels of pictures showing a supposedly fully-assembled next-generation iPhone, website iMore cites sources "who have proven accurate in the past" who claim the three new iDevices will be announced at a special Apple event on Sept. 12.

The sources go on to say the sixth-generation iPhone will go on sale on Sept. 19, one week after its purported debut, but a rollout date for the smaller iPad and iPod nano are not yet known. iMore recently reported the iPad mini would be unveiled sometime in October at a sub-$200 price point.

Monday's launch date rumor is in line with at least one analyst's projection of an early September launch for the next-gen iPhone and iPad mini, but the tablet was estimated to be released later in the month following an August manufacturing ramp-up. Apple partner Foxconn has reportedly been hiring extra staff to accomodate the influx of iDevice orders and the Chinese company's Zhengzhou plant is said to have already rolled out a few sixth-gen iPhone test batches ahead of mass production. It is unclear where the iPad mini will be built, however, as conflicting reports claim final assembly will take place at either Foxconn's Chengdu or Jundiai, Brazil factories.

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Purported assembled next-generation iPhone. | Source: iLab Factory


While the sources didn't offer any additional information regarding hardware specifics, they reiterated the iPad mini will "be exactly like the 9.7-inch iPad, only scaled down to 7.x-inches." The description is identical to earlier "leaked" engineering samples of the device that showed the inclusion of the same 19-pin dock connector widely expected to be introduced with the next-gen iPhone.

Not much is known about a new iPod nano, but some sources have claimed the device will eschew its current square-shaped design for something closer to a shrunken iPhone and add a home button.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 58
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    What? A new iPhone? Darn it, just wanted to get this fonky case, 4 my 4

    [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/9281/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]

    Still can't swallow a smaller iPad, no matter how small. Although they do seem quite thick, possibly due to the smaller size while retaining 10 hour battery life?

    [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/9282/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
  • Reply 2 of 58
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    The sooner the better... 2+ years of the same exterior design is more than enough for any gadget (as slowing sales indicate).

    This one had better show some reall effort/progress - We'll See.
  • Reply 3 of 58
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    but some sources have claimed


    Random guys, with no credibility whatsoever, have cooked up a random story. Quick, fast, run! Let's post this to Ai!


     


    Huh. I'm going to start filtering out anything from Ai with the words "some source", "Digitimes" and possibly "form factor". Oh, and the last article about a fully assembled iPhone (read "an iPhone box without any hardware in...") really was uzless.

  • Reply 4 of 58
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DaHarder View Post



    The sooner the better... 2+ years of the same exterior design is more than enough for any gadget (as slowing sales indicate).

    This one had better show some reall effort/progress - We'll See.


     


    So, you're not a troll. Your signature is not a troll signature. That comment is honestly felt from the heart. The slowing sales of iPhone 4S are not due to the Next iPhone's anticipation.


     


    /sarcasm

  • Reply 5 of 58
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    So, you're not a troll. Your signature is not a troll signature. That comment is honestly felt from the heart. The slowing sales of iPhone 4S are not due to the Next iPhone's anticipation.

    /sarcasm

    Just because someone legitimate disagrees with the near cult-like adoration some of you appear to have for certain tech companies does not make them a ''troll', so stop being ridiculous and deal with it.

    As a longtime (25+ year) owner/supporter of Apple products, I (along with many others) would like to so more forward progress in their designs/effort s- So, Also Deal With That.

    Anyway... Why would they introduce a 'new iPod Nano' and not a new iPod Touch?
  • Reply 6 of 58
    jousterjouster Posts: 460member
    So, you're not a troll. Your signature is not a troll signature. That comment is honestly felt from the heart. The slowing sales of iPhone 4S are not due to the Next iPhone's anticipation.

    /sarcasm

    Apple stated in ther most recent earnings call that they believe such speculation has an effect on sales.
  • Reply 7 of 58
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DaHarder View Post



    The sooner the better... 2+ years of the same exterior design is more than enough for any gadget (as slowing sales indicate).

    This one had better show some reall effort/progress - We'll See.


    Slowing sales which are still higher than the the top selling Galaxy S III and are not due to the design but historically have happened before a new product launch, announced by Apple as happening in "fall". (Spring down here), it doesn't take a genius to figure out that it will coincide with iOS 6.0.

  • Reply 8 of 58
    realisticrealistic Posts: 1,154member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post


    Random guys, with no credibility whatsoever, have cooked up a random story. Quick, fast, run! Let's post this to Ai!


     


    Huh. I'm going to start filtering out anything from Ai with the words "some source", "Digitimes" and possibly "form factor". Oh, and the last article about a fully assembled iPhone (read "an iPhone box without any hardware in...") really was uzless.





    But you'll have nothing left to read.

  • Reply 9 of 58
    carmissimocarmissimo Posts: 837member
    My belief is that there will not be two products as in an iPod Touch and an iPad Mini. Instead, the Nano will be a little less nano and the Touch will become a larger device to slot in below the iPad. Keeping existing price points from the Nano and Touch lines but making those devices each larger, Apple will continue to dominate this space. No need to change the names of the devices either. Why muddy the waters by having a second IPad form factor that is really a different device. Just call it the Touch and then it doesn't look like current management has turned against what Jobs had decided to do in the tablet space.

    If it were me, I"d resist the urge to put a 7-inch screen on the device, going instead for an even more portable form factor. The other day I glanced at a device with a screen just shy of five inches and it looked like a rather handy size. Still pocketable yet with much more screen real estate than the current Touch.

    I see the Touch as a companion to the iPad, not as an alternative to it. Apple already dominates the tablet space so why compete with that.
  • Reply 10 of 58
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Yea more meaningless rumors. How about reporting on something worthwhile like Jonathan Ive's comments from London today:

    http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/30/jonathan-ive-revenue-good-design

    Jonathan Ive: Apple's goal isn't to make money

    Apple's goal is not to make money, but to make good products, said Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of industrial design at Apple, speaking at the British Embassy's Creative Summit.

    "We are really pleased with our revenues but our goal isn't to make money. It sounds a little flippant, but it's the truth. Our goal and what makes us excited is to make great products. If we are successful people will like them and if we are operationally competent, we will make money," he said.

    He explained how, in the 90s, Apple was very close to bankruptcy and that "you learn a lot about vital corporations through non-vital corporations". When Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, his focus was not on making money -- "His observation was that the products weren't good enough. His resolve was to make better products." This was a different approach from other attempts to turn the company around, which had focused first and foremost on cost savings and revenue generation.

    "I refute that design is important. Design is a prerequisite. Good design -- innovation -- is really hard, said Ive, explaining how it is possible to be both a craftsperson and a mass manufacturer with discipline and focus. "We say no to a lot of things that we want to do and are intrigued by so that we only work on a manageable amount of products and can invest an incredible amount of care on each of them."

    He talked about artist Augustus Pugin, who famously rallied against mass production during the industrial revolution. "Pugin felt there was a godlessness in making things in volume. He was completely wrong. You can make one chair carelessly, thoughtlessly, that is valueless. Or you can make a phone [that will eventually go on to be mass produced] and invest so many years of care and have so many people so driven to make the very best phone way beyond any sort of functional imperative that there is incredible value."

    He said: "Really great design is hard. Good is the enemy of great. Competent design is not too much of a stretch. But if you are trying to do something new, you have challenges on so many axes."

    Ive added that he "can't describe" how excited he still feels to be part of the creative process. "To me I still think it's remarkable that at a point in time on a Tuesday afternoon there isn't an idea and then suddenly later on there is an idea. Invariably they start as a tentative, barely-formed thought that becomes a conversation between a couple of people."

    Apple then builds a prototype that embodies the idea and that's when the idea goes through "the most incredible transition". "You go from something tentative and exclusive to something tangible and -- by nature of it being a thing -- a table of people can sit around it and start to understand it; it becomes inclusive and it galvanises and points to a direction for effort."

    Ive closed by reiterating the Apple mantra that "we don't do market research". "It will guarantee mediocrity and will only work out whether you are going to offend anyone." He said it is a designer's responsibility to understand potential opportunities and be familiar and fluent with technologies that could enable the creation of products that fit with those opportunities.
  • Reply 11 of 58
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    carmissimo wrote: »
    My belief is that there will not be two products as in an iPod Touch and an iPad Mini. Instead, the Nano will be a little less nano and the Touch will become a larger device to slot in below the iPad. Keeping existing price points from the Nano and Touch lines but making those devices each larger, Apple will continue to dominate this space. No need to change the names of the devices either. Why muddy the waters by having a second IPad form factor that is really a different device. Just call it the Touch and then it doesn't look like current management has turned against what Jobs had decided to do in the tablet space.
    If it were me, I"d resist the urge to put a 7-inch screen on the device, going instead for an even more portable form factor. The other day I glanced at a device with a screen just shy of five inches and it looked like a rather handy size. Still pocketable yet with much more screen real estate than the current Touch.
    I see the Touch as a companion to the iPad, not as an alternative to it. Apple already dominates the tablet space so why compete with that.

    If they release a 7" iPad mini the press will report it as Apple being forced to respond to Amazon and Google. I'd love for them to do something that would deal with the whole price umbrella issue without looking like a reaction to the Nexus 7. A bigger iPod touch could be such a product. The Touch will have to be bigger (or be phased out) if the iPhone gets bigger.
  • Reply 12 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lightknight View Post

     

    So, you're not a troll. Your signature is not a troll signature. That comment is honestly felt from the heart. The slowing sales of iPhone 4S are not due to the Next iPhone's anticipation.

     

    /sarcasm

     

    In Britain there is a brewery called Black Sheep.

    It is always worth having a taste when you visit.
  • Reply 13 of 58
    There are a couple of good things about this launch.

    a) The price will be competitive
    b) GPS will be standard in that it suits the size.

    And those cheap IZGO screens are now here so they might well impress too.
  • Reply 14 of 58
    hosshoss Posts: 69member
    Apple seriously needs to take the lead in the wide open 3D printer field. These guys are now printing electronics. http://www.optomec.com/
  • Reply 15 of 58
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DaHarder View Post





    Just because someone legitimate disagrees with the near cult-like adoration some of you appear to have for certain tech companies does not make them a ''troll', so stop being ridiculous and deal with it.

    As a longtime (25+ year) owner/supporter of Apple products, I (along with many others) would like to so more forward progress in their designs/effort s- So, Also Deal With That.

    Anyway... Why would they introduce a 'new iPod Nano' and not a new iPod Touch?


    I also think Apple design improvement are very ordinary with the iphone. Leaks point an "OK" upgrade, but certainly nothing with a "WoW" factor. But until the event happens, we dont know what they are going to release.


     


    I wish they keep the square ipod nano, its being used like a watch by a lot of people. I would rather have a bigger ipod touch, something with a screen between 4.5" to 5".    


     


    I like the MBP improvements and the ipad new rumor 7" ipad with the same resolution of the ipad1&2.

  • Reply 16 of 58
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    If they release a 7" iPad mini the press will report it as Apple being forced to respond to Amazon and Google. I'd love for them to do something that would deal with the whole price umbrella issue without looking like a reaction to the Nexus 7. A bigger iPod touch could be such a product. The Touch will have to be bigger (or be phased out) if the iPhone gets bigger.


    Instead of a 7" ipad mini, they could release a 5" ipod touch.  But youre not going to win with the press, because it will be compare to the samsung Notes.

  • Reply 17 of 58
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    Whatever about these sources there will be a new device at low margins in September.

    Source: Tim Cook.
  • Reply 18 of 58
    A new iPhone and a new iPad announced together just before the start of the fourth quarter?

    Why settle for a $40 billion quarter when you can have a $50 billion quarter?
  • Reply 19 of 58
    isheldonisheldon Posts: 570member
    I need a new iMac.
  • Reply 20 of 58
    carmissimocarmissimo Posts: 837member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by herbapou View Post


    Instead of a 7" ipad mini, they could release a 5" ipod touch.  But youre not going to win with the press, because it will be compare to the samsung Notes.



     


     


    How does a $649 phone (Cdn. pricing) compare to a $200 small-form tablet (i.e. a pocket computer). 


     


    If you can find a better $200 tablet, if that's what Apple unleashes, buy it. Yet that's not likely to happen. If Apple can make a $199 (Cdn.) Touch with a 3.5-inch screen, it can make a $199 update on that product sporting a larger screen. Specifications upgrades with no change in price has been something Apple has been doing for years. If Apple does this, rather than bring out a tweener device, i.e. a $300 seven-inch tablet, the company will own the tablet market. No manufacturer can deliver a full-feature tablet for less than $200 that is anywhere close to being as polished as Apple's products are. Even if let's say a $150 tablet came along, few consumers would consider it a good deal to save $50 but wind up with an inferior tablet. 

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