iPhone 5 release date 2012 mystery after iPhone 4S blew up iOS roadmap
October 31, 2011 by Bill Palmer
by Bill Palmer
“Where is the evidence that the iPhone 4S was some sort of stopgap ‘if we can’t get the iPhone 5 out’?” one reader asks regarding what really went down behind the scenes this year and, accordingly, the prospects for the iPhone 5 release date to come earlier in 2012 than calendar tradition might suggest. After all, “for all its secrecy, Apple has been a pretty consistent company in terms of its development cycle and planning.” Actually, Apple WAS pretty consistent with its iPhone development cycle – until it blew up the blueprint by keeping the iPhone 4 on the market for sixteen months instead of the usual twelve. Apple only would have done that if it was working on something more ambitious than merely the iPhone 4S. If the 4S had been the gameplan all along, it would have launched in the summer just like every iPhone before it. Instead, it was more likely a Plan B once Apple finally concluded it wasn’t going to be able to get its more ambitious plans out the door in time for the start of the holiday season…
But the skepticism continues: “Apple has 2-step model, interspersing major revisions with minor upgrades. 3G, 4 = major, 3GS, 4S = minor.” Actually, Apple only ever did that once, intentionally, with the 3GS being an external retread of the 3G before it. This time Apple clearly had other intentions, with the iPhone 5 either meant to be the only new iPhone model in 2011 or the iPhone 5 taking the flagship role as the 4S took over the budget role, pushing the iPhone 4 into the “free with contract” slot which the 3GS ended up in instead. Enough strangeness happened with the iPhone timeline in 2011 that the only thing we know for sure heading into 2012 is that there is no longer any pattern regarding iPhone release dates or model evolution, at least not one that anyone outside Cupertino is going to be able to pick up on…
As a result, we have a new landscape defined by two things: first, the October launch of the 4S means that there’s no longer a blueprint for iPhone releases. The next one could just as easily come in June or October; no one outside Cupertino knows. Second, the fact that Apple must have been working on more ambitious iPhone hardware during the June-to-October 2011 delay period means that there’s a next-gen iPhone lying in wait, which Apple can spring as early in 2012 as it wants to, provided it’s physically ready. If Apple’s original plan was for both an iPhone 5 (flagship) and an iPhone 4S (budget) to have launched simultaneously, then the company could be looking to rectify that by giving the iPhone 5 a release date and reducing the price of the 4S as quickly in 2012 as possible. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.
Article source: http://www.beatweek.com/news/12199-iphone-5-release-date-mystery-2012-after-iphone-4s-blew-up-ios-roadmap/