Next generation iPhone could appear as early as April

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Next generation iPhone could appear as early as April

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 13 January, 2010

READ MORE: South Korea | Apple | iPhone

Rising competition and the stringent demands of the Korean market may force Apple to abandon its usual launch cycle and debut its fourth iPhone as early as April. According to sources within its Korean carrier partner, KT, the new iPhone could appear in the country ahead of Apple's usual June launch date, sporting the sort of features that are becoming de rigeur for high end smartphones - AMOLED screen, dual-core processor and live video recording, among others.

Before the much anticipated 'iSlate' tablet even becomes a reality, the rumor mill has moved on to the fourth generation iPhone. Not that fourth generation will actually signify LTE or WiMAX, despite another popular report that there is soon to be a WiMAX iPod Touch or iSlate for Clearwire. The fourth iteration of the iPhone would still be firmly grounded in HSPA, though it might support faster versions for advanced carriers like Telstra in Australia, which are looking for handsets that can run at peaks of 42Mbps. And the big question stateside will be whether there will be a CDMA implementation for Verizon Wireless, and for the Korean carriers themselves, which still rely mainly on CDMA.

The new leaks have come out of Korea, whose where KT is just launching the 3GS. These carriers are famously demanding, as are their consumers, and have already made it clear that the iPhone is no big deal where Korean mobile web users are concerned. In response to this, Apple may have done a deal to bring an upgraded iPhone to Korea at the earliest possible stage. According to the usually well informed Korean Times, Apple and KT "have reached a broad consensus to introduce the advance models as early as possible".

This could be early April, a date that might indicate that Apple can no longer rely on just one announcement every 12 months to keep pace with the rising tide of challengers to its touchscreen icon. It will also need to turn out something quite special to see off other hyped-up phones like Nexus One and the revamped LG line-up, especially as AT&T made it clear at CES that it would be less dependent on Apple in future

Among the new features, sheer performance is likely to top the bill, as Apple chases devices like Nexus One, based on the 1GHz Snapdragon architecture. So the fourth iPhone is likely to feature dual-core processors with souped-up graphics and video chips, though it is not expected to get to the gigahertz clock rating (this is more likely in the tablet). A bright AMOLED screen and removable battery would also make the hardware specs look clearly different from those of the 3GS, and there should be more memory and live video recording.

But Apple's real difference always lies in applications, and it is getting harder to stand out from the crowd as rival stores fill up with goodies. Live video chat is supposed to be on the agenda, supported, we hope, with a better camera (never the iPhone's strength, though even the new model is only likely to get to 5-megapixels with flash, none of the 10-mp or more seen at the Korean vendors).

According to Fast Company, while Korea and a couple of other select markets may get the phone in April, Europe and even the US could wait until the traditional iPhone month of June.