We're closing in on the long-rumored late-September release date for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) latest iPhone.
Apple missed its historical early summer update window, so surely the iPhone 5 -- or whatever it will be called -- will be a game changer. Right?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the upcoming refresh won't be a material upgrade. The handset will be a bit thinner and lighter, no doubt a ploy by Apple to sell more covers and keep ZAGG (Nasdaq: ZAGG) and other third-party accessory makers on their toes. The camera will be slightly better.
A source tells the Journal that the new smartphone will also switch to Qualcomm's (Nasdaq: QCOM) wireless chips.
None of these rumored updates would seem to be a "stop-the-presses" enhancement that would force a two- to three-month delay. The initial chatter, when it became apparent that Apple would miss its June-July window, was that it was timing the release to coincide with stateside carriers upgrading to 4G. Perhaps it was buying time to finalize the addition of near-field communications chips to blow up mobile commerce or follow the iPad 2 into the meatier A5 dual-core processor.
Either Apple has suddenly gotten very good about keeping secrets or these material features are now off the table. This is rapidly becoming Apple's Duke Nukem Forever or Chinese Democracy.
The game changer may have to wait until Apple's sixth iPhone is introduced next year. The buzz for that revamp is building, and the Journal's source hints at a cordless charging platform.
If the iPhone 5 is a non-event, let's hope that Apple introduces the iPhone 6 -- or whatever it will be called -- sooner rather than later next year. Time is ticking and the gap between Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android and Apple is growing. Fresh data from comScore finds Android's trailing-three-month market share growing from 33% in February to 38.1% in May. Apple has gone from 25.2% to 26.6% in that time. Yes, Apple is inching in the right direction, but that's largely at the expense of Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry decline and the inability of smaller players to make a dent in this market.
The market forgives delays, but only when the wait is ultimately worth it.
Will you buy the iPhone 5 or hold off until next year? Or have you migrated to Android? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
