iPhone 5

472 'iPhone 5' stories January 2011 - November 2013

iPhone 5s supplies almost caught up with demand, says U.S. store survey

Ben Lovejoy Nov 26 2013 - 6:30 am PT

A biweekly survey of 60 U.S. Apple Stores says that availability of the iPhone 5s has reached 90 percent of all iPhones in stock, almost triple the 31 percent figure measured just a fortnight ago, reports CNET.

Apple’s online store lists a ship time of three to five business days for the iPhone 5S, down from two to three weeks earlier this month. Munster said he believes that supply of the 5S will meet demand in early December, mimicking the same route taking by the iPhone 5.

However, the figures come from Gene Munster, an analyst not always a reliable source when it comes to predictions, and not everyone agrees.

[tweet https://twitter.com/llsethj/status/378343208377663488]

Time will tell, but if you’re planning to buy one as a holiday gift, sooner rather than later remains advisable. Even more so for the Retina iPad Mini.

As always, the best deals for iPhones and other Apple and Apple-related products for the shopping season will be on 9to5mac’s product pages and 9to5Toys.

‘Toaster’ dual-iPhone charging dock appears on Kickstarter

Benjamin Mayo Nov 26 2013 - 4:35 am PT

3 Comments

The Foaster is a new novel charging dock for your iPhone and the creators are currently running a Kickstarter to put this neat dock into production. As you can tell from the video, the novelty here is the fact it resembles a toaster. The creators say that the kitchen is one of the most common places where people charge their phones, so they thought they would design a dock to suit.

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Review: mik Sound Case cranks up the volume on your iPhone

Sarah Guarino Nov 23 2013 - 12:00 pm PT

11 Comments

The mik Sound Case is a new type of phone case available for the iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5/5s. It amplifies the phone’s speaker by an additional 15 to 20 decibels and improves the clarity and quality of the sound. By blocking the speaker, the case forces the sound to travel through a hollow space and out an opening on the back of the phone. Thankfully, the lightweight case doesn’t add any additional weight to the phone.

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China Mobile launch for iPhone as good as confirmed for 18th December [Update: It’s official]

Ben Lovejoy Nov 21 2013 - 6:13 am PT

1 Comment

Image: appadvice.com

Update: The Chinese government has now confirmed this date.

The iPhone looks set to be launched by China Mobile – the biggest carrier in the world’s biggest country – on Wednesday 18th December, reports the WSJ. While neither the carrier nor Apple have made a definitive announcement, China Mobile has said this is the date it will “introduce a new brand.”

The launch is expected during the company’s 4G global partners conference in Guangzhou, according to China Mobile’s website. An executive at the world’s largest mobile operator has said it is ready to start fourth-generation mobile services, though China has yet to issue 4G licenses. In September, China’s Telecom Equipment Certification Center gave Apple Inc.the final license necessary for the iPhone to run on China Mobile’s network …
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Foxconn stops iPhone 5c production at one factory, switches capacity to 5s

Ben Lovejoy Nov 18 2013 - 5:47 am PT

9 Comments

Photo: Sunday Mirror

Foxconn is ceasing production of the iPhone 5c at one of its factories in order to boost production of the iPhone 5s, according to sources cited by Digitimes.

Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) will stop production of the iPhone 5c at its factory in Zhengzhou, northern China, and shift the capacity to iPhone 5s, according to industry sources.

Digitimes is not the most reliable of sources, but this one gels with other reports suggesting that Apple is cutting back on production of its plastic handset in order to keep up with demand for the iPhone 5s.

The reports can, of course, be viewed as indicating either success for the 5s or failure for the 5c. Given the numbers reported last month, following on from record opening weekend sales, it seems pretty clear that while Apple got its predictions wrong, the reason is good news rather than bad: more people than expected opting for the high-end handset.

Apparent block on mass-unlocking of AT&T iPhones hits resale industry

Ben Lovejoy Nov 14 2013 - 7:37 am PT

82 Comments

Companies that specialise in buying and selling used iPhones are reporting that the methods they use to unlock handsets to allow them to be used on any compatible network are no longer working for AT&T models.

AT&T models are in greatest demand for companies reselling iPhones overseas, as the frequencies used are compatible with many foreign networks. But the WSJ says that something changed early in October, and no solution has been found since then. One reseller, run by Louis Ashner, says it is being forced to close.

“The market is gone,” Mr. Ashner said, who said he was on track for $1 million in revenue this year. “We are closing up.”

Business owners throughout the U.S. used-smartphone market are reporting the same problem, and like Mr. Ashner none of them knows exactly what went wrong. Whatever changed, AT&T appears to be at the center of it …
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The Retina iPad Mini teardown reveals cross between iPad Air & iPhone 5s

Ben Lovejoy Nov 13 2013 - 7:35 am PT

3 Comments

Following close behind its teardown of the iPad Air, iFixit has now taken its toolkit to the Retina iPad Mini. While the company understandably focuses on repairability – that’s how it makes it’s money – we’re betting most people just want to have a peek inside.

Unsurprisingly, the new iPad Mini is essentially a cross between the iPad Air and the iPhone 5s …
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Retina iPad Mini supplies expected to remain tight through the holidays

Ben Lovejoy Nov 13 2013 - 4:28 am PT

3 Comments

If you’re planning to give anyone a Retina iPad Mini as a holiday gift, it might be advisable to buy it sooner rather than later. Retina iPad Mini supplies are expected to remain constrained for the rest of the year, with two analysts both estimating production at around two million units. This is a very small number in what is likely to be a quarter with high demand.

KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo and IHS iSuppli’s Rhoda Alexander had both previously said they expected supply to be very tight, but this is the first time we’ve had sight of KGI’s estimates of the numbers.

We maintain our iPad mini R shipments forecast of around 2.2mn units for 4Q13. Considering production yield improvement at the supply chain, we forecast shipments will grow 102% QoQ in 1Q14 to 4.5mn units.

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iOS market share continues to fall, but Apple unlikely to be worried

Ben Lovejoy Nov 12 2013 - 6:57 am PT

18 Comments

The headline news in the latest IDC stats might look like bad news for Apple: iOS Q3 market share dropped from 14.4 percent last year to 12.9 percent this year. But it’s a number that is unlikely to lead to too many sleepless nights in Cupertino, for four reasons.

First, Apple isn’t competing with most of the Android market, which spans all price-points, only the top end of it. Samsung has been struggling to make money from its flagship handsets, with most of its profits coming from low-end models, while HTC has been in all kinds of trouble. Looking at Apple’s market share in the smartphone market as a whole is the most academic of exercises.

Second, while market share is down, shipments are up: from 26.9M in Q3 last year to 33.8M in the same quarter this year.

Third, for most of Q3 savvy iPhone buyers were holding fire, waiting for the new models Apple launched almost at the end of that quarter. The iPhone 5s and 5c between them notched up a record 9M sales in just the opening weekend. Q4 is where it’s really at …
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Sapphire iPhone screens just might be cost-effective sooner rather than later

Ben Lovejoy Nov 12 2013 - 5:39 am PT

6 Comments

TechCrunch has an interesting piece in which it suggests that the sapphire crystal Apple currently uses in the Touch ID home button on the iPhone 5s might prove a cost-effective option for iPhone screens sooner than we thought.

Sapphire is very, very tough. Short of scraping it with your diamond ring, you’re unlikely to scratch it. But it’s also very, very expensive. A sapphire outer layer on an iPhone would likely cost ten times as much as the Gorilla Glass Apple uses at present.

But Apple recently struck a deal with sapphire manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies to boost production by 2000 percent, and GTAT just happens to have acquired a solar panel company that developed a new technique for slicing hard materials very thinly using an ion particle accelerator.

If the same technique can be applied to sapphire, and if it could be combined with a sapphire laminating system already patented by Apple, the cost could plummet.

Apple could drive the costs of sapphire sheets down incredibly low in comparison to the traditional method. It will be able to create many of these super thin sapphire sheets from the same amount of raw material it would take to make one full piece of sapphire cover glass. It could then laminate the assembly together in the way that it currently does iPhones […]

This, in turn, could mean sapphire cover sheets that are harder and tougher than standard glass materials on your iPhone years sooner than most analysts have predicted.

Those are two big IFs, so we’re not holding our breath, but it’s certainly an intriguing possibility.

Apple’s market share in Japan overtakes USA, with more to come

Ben Lovejoy Nov 11 2013 - 7:40 am PT

5 Comments

Photo: japantimes.co.jp

Apple’s share of the smartphone market in Japan has hit 37 percent, greater than the 36 percent share in the USA, reports the WSJ.

Sales got another boost in late September when NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest wireless carrier, began offering the iPhone for the first time to its 61.8 million customers. Even before that, the iPhone was Japan’s best-selling smartphone, with a 37% market share in the six months ended Sept. 30, according to Tokyo’s MM Research Institute. That’s comparable to the iPhone’s 36% share in the U.S. in the third quarter, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech …
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Apple Stores to soon offer iPhone 5s & 5c screen replacements, other repairs

Mark Gurman Nov 6 2013 - 8:33 pm PT

43 Comments

iPhone 5s Teardown via <a href="http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+5s+Teardown/17383">iFixit</a>

Apple is gearing up to soon begin hardware repairs for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in its chain of retail stores, according to sources with knowledge of the upcoming initiative. These sources say that Apple Stores will be able to replace several parts of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on-site, meaning that Apple will no-longer need to fully replace iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c units with damage or other problems…

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iPhone 5s vs Nexus 5 Photo Smackdown: Vote which images are the best

Seth Weintraub Nov 6 2013 - 9:45 am PT

16 Comments

Update: Shocker iPhone won 55% to 45%

We’re doing a little poll over at 9to5Google on the quality of images taken on the new Nexus 5 vs. everyone’s favorite iPhone 5s (Gold obv.).

To check the validity of claims that the Nexus 5 has a poor shooter, we took 10 different pictures with both a Nexus 5 and the reigning champ of smartphone cameras – the iPhone 5s. We even split the test over two different Nexus 5s and iPhone 5s devices. The comparison test is below. We’ll publish the results tomorrow.

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Ten days of iPhone 5s and 5c sales help Apple break 40 percent in U.S. smartphone market

Ben Lovejoy Nov 6 2013 - 5:22 am PT

1 Comment

Apple’s share of the U.S. smartphone market grew by 0.7 percent in the last quarter to reach 40.6 percent, according to comScore data.

Sales of low-cost handsets mean that Android’s position as leading mobile platform is safe, with a marginal drop to 51.8 percent of the market, but Apple remained top of the vendor rankings …

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iPad Air higher-tech but actually cheaper to produce than iPad 3, says research firm

Ben Lovejoy Nov 5 2013 - 5:33 am PT

2 Comments

Research firm IHS, which previously dismantled the iPhone 5s and 5c to calculate component costs, has now done the same with the iPad Air.

It concludes that while the technology in the iPad Air is significantly more advanced than in the iPad 3 (for some reason the company skipped the iPad 4), the total production cost is actually lower, reports AllThingsD.

The firm says Apple’s iPad Air […] costs between $274 and $361 to build depending on model. The […] total component cost of the base model, at $274, is still $42 cheaper than the entry-level third-generation iPad …

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Apple now highlighting 64-bit A7 iPhone 5s chip on magazine covers

Michael Steeber Oct 29 2013 - 7:04 pm PT

1 Comment

Earlier this month, we highlighted that Apple is touting the iPhone 5s’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner and gold color option on the back of certain magazine covers. Now, we’ve spotted a new magazine ad for the iPhone 5s. This one, instead, highlight’s the device’s 64-bit A7 processor. “64-bit” is complex technical jargon, but Apple simplifies it to mean that the iPhone is powerful and offers all-day battery life.

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Live blog: Apple’s Q4 2013 earnings call

Mark Gurman Oct 28 2013 - 1:42 pm PT

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<a href="http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Peter+Oppenheimer+Tim+Cook+Discusses+Tax+Code+EFIrcwcsO7Cx.jpg">Image</a> of CFO Oppenheimer and CEO Cook

Apple has announced its earnings for Q4 2013, including $37.5 billion in revenue and sales of 33.8 million iPhones, 14.1 million iPads, and 4.6 million Macs. As usual, Apple will be holding a conference call to discuss the results, provide some additional information, and take questions from analysts. Below, we’ll be holding a live blog of the proceedings:

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Apple reports $37.5b revenue for Q4 2013: 33.8m iPhones, 14.1m iPads, 4.6m Macs

Mark Gurman Oct 28 2013 - 1:32 pm PT

8 Comments

<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/apple-iphone-5s-5c-line-around-the-world-132626546.html">Photo of iPhone line</a>

As planned, Apple today announced its financial results for Q4 2013. This is a quarter highlighted by iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sales and is the quarter preceding the launches of several new Macs and the new iPads:

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Apple to start offering Personal Pickup for iPad Air on Nov. 1 launch date

Mark Gurman Oct 28 2013 - 11:51 am PT

10 Comments

In contrast to the supply constrained launch of the iPhone 5s, Apple will offer Personal Pickup for the iPad Air beginning on the November 1st launch date, we’re hearing from sources. MacRumors is reporting the same. When the Apple Online Store goes live on November 1st at midnight Pacific Time (3 AM EST), customers will be able to order iPad Airs to be shipped to their addresses…

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New iPhones to rollout in Israel & UAE November 3rd, Philippines November 15th

Mark Gurman Oct 28 2013 - 8:14 am PT

7 Comments

Following the debut of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in several new countries late last week, Apple will begin rolling out the new devices in several countries during the month of November. Apple previously indicated that it would ship the devices on November 1st in Albania, Armenia, Bahrain, Colombia, El Salvador, Guam, Guatemala, India, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE…

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New Space Gray iPad mini quietly begins hitting Apple Store shelves

Mark Gurman Oct 24 2013 - 6:27 pm PT

0 Comments

Silently announced alongside the new iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, Apple has begun selling a Space Gray version of the first-generation, non-Retina display iPad mini at its physical retail stores.

Sources say that the model is now available via several Apple Stores, but not every store. Interested customers should call their store to ensure availability…

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Boost Mobile to Offer iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on November 8

Seth Weintraub Oct 21 2013 - 5:20 am PT

2 Comments

Along with US Cellular who announced on Friday, Boost Mobile will now also offer the iPhone 5s and 5c on November 8th according to short press release this morning (below).

Boost is a Sprint Co. pre-paid sister site of Virgin, which also announced iPhone 5s and 5c availability last month with $100 off retail pricing and $30/month plans. Boost Mobile iPhone media (above) was leaked last month.

Nine other regional carriers have announced iPhone 5s/5c availability on November 1st.
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Why iPhone longevity means iOS carrier activation share doesn’t resemble sales

Ben Lovejoy Oct 18 2013 - 7:20 am PT

21 Comments

There was a lot of confusion yesterday when Verizon’s results were discussed, with more than one commentator confusing activations and sales. For the record, what Verizon announced was that 51 percent of its activations were iPhone, not 51 percent of its phone sales.

If you doubt the importance of this distinction, I have one word for you: T-Mobile. As of 11th April, the carrier had two million iPhone activations. Its iPhone sales as of the same date? Zero: T-Mobile didn’t start selling iPhones until the following day.

The difference between the two numbers is particularly dramatic with high-end handsets like the iPhone …
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Here come the iPhone 5s ads, touting Touch ID and Gold color option

Jordan Kahn Oct 17 2013 - 10:33 am PT

4 Comments

Apple appears to be changing gears from its previous Designed by Apple in California campaign following the release of the new iPhones. Apple’s latest full page ad is appearing in this week’s edition of the New Yorker and this time around focuses on the new fingerprint sensor and Touch ID feature on the gold iPhone 5s. The text from the ad reads:

Your finger is the password.

Touch ID was created not only to protect all the important and personal information on your phone, but to be so easy to use, you’ll actually use it. Its state-of-the-art technology learns your unique fingerprint, so you can unlock your phone or even authorize purchases with just a simple touch.Touch ID. Only on iPhone 5s.

Apple’s previous Designed by Apple in California ads made a point of focusing on on its ecosystem and the people that use it rather than specific products, but it’s clear the focus has changed slightly now that it has new iPhones on the market. Interestingly, the ad specifically notes Touch ID as specific to iPhone 5s. This particular magazine issue is next week’s version, just one day before the new iPads are announced. Would Apple note Touch ID is exclusive to the iPhone 5s in the same week that the iPads are revamped if the iPads will be getting the feature?

(via @samradford & MacRumors)