Apple will unveil its next iPhone on 10 September, according to unnamed sources cited by the AllThingsD blog.
The iPhone 5S, the name most analysts and pundits have used in a sop to Apple’s naming practice, will include an improved camera, a faster processor and probably a fingerprint sensor to secure the device, rumors have claimed. It will run iOS 7, the visually-revamped mobile operating system that Apple seeded to developers in early June.
The 10 September date syncs with last year’s introduction of the iPhone 5, which was revealed at a San Francisco event on 12 September, 2012, a Wednesday. That model was available for pre-ordering two days later, and went on sale 21 September.
Although AllThingD’s date is a Tuesday, as opposed to a day later last year, Apple may not have wanted to launch the new smartphone on Wednesday as it is the 12th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York and Washington, DC.
A September on-sale date would let Apple squeeze revenue from initial sales of the iPhone 5S into the third quarter, which ends 30 September.
Apple will likely use the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco to unveil the iPhone 5S. The Cupertino, Calif. company has staged several product launches there, including the iPhone 5 last year.
Apple may also use the same event to roll out a lower-priced iPhone, possibly dubbed the iPhone 5C, that it could use to beat back the hard-charging Android competition, which sells large numbers of less expensive smartphones in developing markets, China and India.
Apple’s share of the global smartphone has eroded over the last year because of Android’s strength. IDC’s latest estimate put Apple’s market share at 13.2% for the second quarter, down from 16.6% in the same period the year before.
IDG News Service
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