iPhone News Updated

Analysts Debunk Rumor That iPhone 4S Is Influencing Competitor Launch Dates

A report from Taiwanese publication Digitimes says smartphone manufacturers Samsung, HTC, LG and Nokia are launching their new products in Q2 2012 instead of Q1 in order to avoid direct competition from Apple’s iPhone 4S.

Digitimes sources said that sales of the iPhone 4S “will remain at peak in the first quarter of 2012 and then begin to decline,” so many handset makers will be waiting to unveil 2012 models at Mobile World Congress in late February — with launch dates after that.

At first glance, the Digitimes reports seems tenable. At this year’s CES, many products revealed at the show were announced with release dates of April or later, and “in the coming months” was a common refrain among PR reps when asked when products would hit retail.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t look like Apple’s smartphone success bears much influence on its competitors’ release dates.

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iPhone 5 Rumor: Apple Partnering with MasterCard/PayPass to Bring NFC Technology in Next iPhone

With the existing iPhone 4S already has become three months old now, the rumors surrounding Apple’s future products, especially iPhone 5 and iPad 3, has started gaining momentum.

Adding to the rumor mill, a recent report published in 9to5Mac suggested that Apple’s next generation iPhone would feature near field communication or NFC technology.

The report was based on a conversation between one of their reporters and “a well-connected developer” at the recent Macworld convention. According to the report, the developer claimed to be building an application that includes the ability to process mobile transactions using the NFC technology.

Although the developer didn’t give any information about the specification of any new hardware release, he told 9to5Mac that he did speak to Apple iOS engineers many times, and they are “heavy into NFC.”

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