Apple

iPhone 5S expected to launch late June, says analyst

Apple will likely bring out its next iPhone in late June, projects Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

Assuming that forecast comes true, Munster believes Apple will sell 4 million units of the new phone before the month and the quarter are over. That estimate compares with the 5 million iPhone 5 handsets sold during that model's opening weekend.

The analyst expects Apple to sell 30 million iPhones over the June quarter, a 15 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago.

What will the iPhone 5S offer over its predecessor?

Like most analysts and Apple watchers, Munster expects … Read more

T-Mobile will talk iPhone at tomorrow's event

Yep, T-Mobile will finally get the iPhone.

Apple's flagship device, long a gap in T-Mobile's smartphone lineup, will play a prominent role in tomorrow's "Uncarrier" event, according to a person familiar with the launch plans.

A T-Mobile representative declined to comment to CNET.

The iPhone is critical to T-Mobile's plans to remake itself as the "different" carrier. It will be the marquee product illustrating its new no-contract, no-subsidy rules, where a customer pays a small fee upfront and pays a monthly charge on top of the service plan to cover the phone … Read more

Why I won't be going back to BlackBerry from iPhone

My story begins back in the spring of 2010, when I first became a BlackBerry user. Two years and four BlackBerrys later, battling the urge to dropkick my phone into outer space had become a daily struggle. Reader, I gave in -- I bought an iPhone.

I wasn't the only one, either. RIM -- or just plain old BlackBerry, as it's now known -- was beset by one crisis after another, and watched its worldwide market share dip dramatically.

BlackBerry 10 launched in January and, despite being massively overdue, was supposed to revive the company's fortunes and … Read more

Apple to launch 'low-end iPhone' without Retina in 2013 -- report

Apple is planning a "low-end iPhone" that will lack some of the extras found in the company's iPhone 5, one analyst claims.

In a note to investors today, Amit Daryanani of RBC Capital Markets said that Apple plans to launch "multiple new phones" between June and July this year. According to AppleInsider, which obtained a copy of his investors note, Daryanani said in addition to a flagship handset that Apple will call the iPhone 5S, the company will deliver a lower-end device featuring "plastic casing and no Retina display."

"With a lower … Read more

Pentagon: No, we're not dropping BlackBerry support

With its newest smartphone set to go on sale tomorrow, BlackBerry received some good news today when the Pentagon said it intends to continue supporting the company's smartphones.

"The department is aware of recent reporting that asserts it is 'dropping' BlackBerry. This reporting is in error. The department recently released its mobility strategy and supporting implementation plan, which clarifies we are moving towards a mobile management capability that supports a variety of devices, to include BlackBerry," Lt. Col. Damien Pickart told PC Magazine.

BlackBerry's Z10 is considered crucial to the company's comeback hopes. It's … Read more

The iPhone tops J.D. Power satisfaction rankings -- again

Apple's iPhone satisfaction streak is alive and well.

J.D. Power and Associates today released its rankings of the most popular smartphone vendors. And for the ninth-consecutive time, Apple took the top spot with a score of 855 out of 1,000. Back in September, when J.D. Power last conducted a study on smartphone customer satisfaction, Apple scored 849.

The second-place smartphone vendor in the latest J.D. Power survey was Nokia, scoring a 795. Samsung came in a close third at 793, followed by Motorola and HTC with 792 and 790, respectively. The average vendor score was … Read more

Drop an iPhone? Apple's patent filing comes to the rescue

iPhone owners who drop their phones could avoid serious damage if an Apple patent filing ever results in real technology.

Published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an Apple patent application dubbed "Protective Mechanism for an Electronic Device" describes a couple of methods to help a dropped iPhone or other electronic device better survive its fall.

In one method, on-board sensors would detect how far and how fast the phone is falling and reorient its position. As such, the phone would actually be rotated mid-flight to land on a more durable spot, such as its … Read more

iPhone 5S to use faster chip and higher-end camera, says report

The much-rumored iPhone 5S will come with a higher-end processor and a higher-megapixel camera, say the folks at DigiTimes.

Citing its usual supply chain sources, DigiTimes said that the next iPhone is likely to be a "slightly enhanced" version of its predecessor. Components for this year's iPhone are expected to begin shipping in May with an eye toward the release of the phone said to be sometime in the third quarter.

The iPhone 5 hit the market in September of 2012, so Apple may stick with the same schedule for the 5S. However, some reports have suggested that the phone will reach consumers in June or July.… Read more

Apple iWatch, beware. Samsung plans to clock you

Now that Samsung has said it's working on a high-tech watch, one that presumably will pack smartphone features, 2013 could shape up as the year of smartwatch wars, with longtime foes Apple and Samsung leading the battle.

The motivation, Wall Street analysts argue, is that the biggies need another act as growth of smartphones sales are already slowing. Could smartwatches become that act? It might sound like a long shot; many people already are abandoning watches and relying on their phones instead. And in an age of ever-expanding phone screens, a device for the wrist comes with obvious limitations. … Read more