Chewy Apps

The iPhone 5 befuddles me. Historically, Apple has released a new iPhone on a yearly schedule. If rumours are to be believed, the iPhone 5 will be released soon, taking about an extra six months to develop compared to the previous three iPhone designs. Even the iPhone 4, which was a radical design departure, came out on schedule.

So what is it about the iPhone 5 that is taking so long to develop? Insiders and pundits suggest that the iPhone 5 will have the A5 processor that’s also in the iPad 2, so the core CPU is a known quantity. Are they having trouble with heat dissipation perhaps? I’m just guessing. Rumour sites also suggest that the iPhone 5 will have a larger display, but then we also read that the iPhone 5 will not have a larger display. Who to believe? Mixed messages are all we’re getting on this front, but even a larger display doesn’t tell us why we’re getting a six month delay. Especially since the display will probably have the same resolution as the iPhone 4′s Retina display.

The latest rumours are that the iPhone 5 won’t even ship with iOS 5 installed. Developers who have the latest beta are saying that iOS 5 is awesome but isn’t ready for prime time. So put those things together, and you can’t blame iOS 5 for the iPhone 5′s extra development time.

What other features could Apple possibly be adding to this phone? NFC? Hardly rocket science. Frankly I’m flummoxed. Does Apple have another market-shifting product in the works? Something we can’t imagine until it happens? Will the iPhone 5 be one of those products that’ll make Samsung, HTC, and RIM moan in despair?

All I can say is, it better be worth it!