3G iPhone around the Corner, OLED, 10 Million of ‘em Ordered?
Ken Dulaney, a Gartner analyst has divulged to the iPod Observer that Apple may have already placed an order for 10 million 3G iPhones. Mr. Dulaney is aware of this based on the rumors he his following in Asia.
Mr. Delany also goes on to speculate that the 3G iPhone will also use organic LED’s allowing the device to be thinner and have a lower consumption. This comes just days off of Kevin Rose’s declaration that the 3G iPhone will have a built-in forward facing camera, possibly for video chatting via an iChat like client.
Will we see a new iPhone in a “few months”? My bet is the announcement will have to be at the WWDC this June.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:18 am
I call b.s. on the OLED unless it’s used solely for an auxiliary screen.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:21 am
While announcement at the WWDC is possible given the iPhone being centerpiece this year, WWDC is usually reserved for announcements of new computing hardware and technologies. Apple doesn’t use their annual events interchangeably in terms of announcing new products.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
That seems like a very short product life cycle for the 1st generation iPhone. If they were only adding the 3G, I’d believe it, but with the OLED and forward camera, I’d have 2nd the b.s. claim by cmaier. I’d love the rumors to be true especially if it comes to market before xmas. I also would agree with AnteLOpe that WWDC is unlikely to be where such a product would be announced. Not only is it inconsistent with Apple history, but it would actually hurt Apple’s ability to cell new iPhone in between June and the actual date of availability of the new iPhone. Apple would expect a boost in sales due to the SDK availability and 3rd party apps, why would they shoot themselves in the foot by announcing a reason to wait to buy one?
March 26th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
3G and front-facing camera is almost synonymous in Europe. Placing the camera behind the screen would be really cool. I believe they already have an infra-red sensor behind the screen that detects the proximity of your face, so it would be their kind of thing.
Surur
March 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
They have patent filings on sensors integrated with the LCD, but it wouldn’t work with OLED (i think). I wouldn’t be surprised if they do put a forward-facing camera in. Not sure if they’ll get fancy, though.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
The proximity sensor in the current iPhone is in the ear-piece speaker slot I think:
http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/features/index.html#sensor
What Kevin Rose seemed to be saying about the camera was that it would be behind the glass, not behind the LCD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ6JEs5swKg
March 26th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I think OLED might be doable. The iRiver iClix has a 2.2″ OLED screen and has be out for a year:
http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/iriver-clix-4gb-second/4505-6490_7-32327766.html
The 8 GB version is about $50 more than an 8 GB Nano so the screens probably aren’t that expensive. Buying in lots of 10 million would probably drive the price down a bit too
March 26th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
…or perhaps OLED is not such a great idea. This on the OLED display of the Nokia 8800 Arte:
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia8800arte-review-213p2.php
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:04 am
This seems fairly convincing. Says OLED soon, probably not now:
http://www.displaysearchblog.com/2008/03/apples-foray-into-amoleds-not-yet/
The argument against OLED being in the next iPhone (according to Young) isn’t that the screens are too expensive or aren’t good enough in sunlight, it’s simply that there isn’t sufficient production capacity.