Rumors: Is This The New iPhone 5 & iPhone 4S? [PICS]

 by Charlie White

With the rumor mill heating up about the iPhone 5 becoming available in September, we’re now beginning to see alleged images of the new phone, along with clear shots of what’s being called a cheaper iPhone 4S.

That grainy shot of someone clutching an “iPhone 5″ while riding on a train was given to 9 to 5 mac.com by a tipster who observed a man holding it in public.

The tipster told 9-to-5 Mac that the person holding the phone “was likely an Apple employee hunched over the device on the way home from work in San Francisco earlier this week.” The tipster said he got a good look at the device but added that the pictures he snapped “didn’t do it justice.” He said when he saw pictures of those two alleged iPhone 5 cases on Mashable showed readers Thursday, he knew he had seen the new iPhone.

At this stage in the iPhone 4′s product cycle in May 2010, Apple placed its new phones inside cases that concealed their true shape. So even if this is the next iPhone in this picture, it might not indicate the precise appearance of the final version.

Our next possibility is shown in a couple of clearer shots of what Vietnamese website Tinhte.vn says is the new iPhone 4S. The site claims this is a lower-cost model of the iPhone 4. As the story goes, this phone will be released along with the flagship iPhone in September.

This white “iPhone 4S” looks a lot like the current iPhone 4, but the rumored cheaper model won’t have the current iPhone’s glass front and back. Rather, it will allegedly have a plastic back that will make the phone significantly lighter than the current iPhone 4.

iPhone 5 Rumor Round-Up: Bigger Screen, Better Camera, Physical Keyboard?

by Jolie O'Dell

The word on the street tonight is that Apple is toying with the idea of a much larger screen for the iPhone 5.
Other iPhone 5 rumors include a slide-out keyboard and a more competitive camera.
These rumors may have been spawned by glimpses of as-yet unfinished prototypes which may never come to market; they could be complete fiction. Or they could also represent part of the future of Apple’s iconic phone.
The bulk of this iPhone 5-related gossip comes from a Taiwanese blog with a high rate of accuracy on previous Apple leaks. The screen-size rumor comes from DigiTimes.
The interesting thing about all these rumors is that each one suggests Apple is more concerned than ever about competing with Android devices, many of which feature huge screens, massive cameras and physical keyboards already.
For example, many top-of-the-line Android models feature 8-megapixel cameras in contrast to the iPhone 4‘s 5-megapixel model. A couple devices in non-U.S. markets even top that spec; the Altek Leo features a 14-megapixel camera. Without question, the trend is toward more megapixels with every passing month.
And some of these Android devices feature screens as large as 4.3 inches. Android devices with screens in the 4-inches-and-over category often sport kickstands and are lauded for their multimedia capabilities — or derided for being slightly impractical and unwieldy, depending on the user’s perspective.
Now, the iPhone 5 is rumored to have a camera between 8 megapixels (competitive with current Android phones) and 12 megapixels (blowing most current Android models out of the water and likely keeping pace with future Androids, too). With a better camera and a larger screen, it might sport the specs to intrigue those whose loyalties lie with the best hardware over the brand name.
The physical keyboard rumor, however, is a horse of a different color. A handful of Android and RIM devices have been holding sway over the business and content-creating crowd with their über-efficient text entry. But the enterprise isn’t a market Apple has typically courted in the past; to do so now, we suspect they’d have to have a virtual keyboard option alongside a physical keyboard option — an extremely atypical move for the company.