Next generation iPhone in final testing stage?

According to some juicy tidbits picked up by the folks over at 9to5Mac, the next generation iPhone will be making its debut after all. A tipster told them that the upcoming iPhone has reached the final testing stage and is being carried around by high level Apple and carrier executives. If that is the case, it looks like the next generation iPhone is en route to making its appearance this September, corroborating with previous rumors about a late 2011 release. There’s still no word on whether the next iPhone will be called the iPhone 5 or the 4S, and whether it will be a massive upgrade to the iPhone 4 or just a minor update with a slight bump in specs.

The tipster also claimed that Verizon and Apple are having talks regarding FaceTime calls over 3G on the carrier’s network. This is kind of odd – since jailbroken iPhones can already do that and there are so many third party video calling apps already available on the App Store. I’m not sure why Apple would need to strike a deal to make FaceTime work.

In addition to word from the tipster, 9to5Mac also snooped around the iOS 5 SDK and found references to two devices named “N94” and “N93” which they believe are codenames for the unreleased iPhone models since the iPhone 4 GSM is N90 and CDMA is N92. They also discovered that the next iPhone might possibly have the same 5 megapixel sensor that’s found on the iPhone 4. Well, we still have a few more months to go, expect more rumors to surface in the meantime.

George Wong
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Apple Inc, iOS, ios 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5