Apple iPhone 5 launch rumours

The iPhone 5 is due to be unveiled at an event in San Francisco today at 6pm UK time - and MSN Tech & Gadgets will have full live coverage of the event.

But what can we expect?

Earlier this summer, Apple filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization over the use of the iPhone5.com domain by a third party. That pretty much guarantees - as if we couldn't have guessed - that the company wants the name 'iPhone 5'.

• MSN Tech & Gadgets: The new iPhone - what's in store?
• Also on MSN Tech & Gadgets: could this be the iPhone 5?

The iPhone 4S bettered its predecessor in several ways, with new features including Siri, the voice-controlled search tool, a much better camera and a notably nippier processor.

But it's the 'true' successor to the iPhone 4 that Apple fans are really waiting for. So what can we expect from the incoming iPhone 5? Here's the buzz from across the web.

A bigger screen
Larger-screened phones are becoming the norm and the expectation is on Apple to beef up the size of its next iPhone's display. That 3.5-inch screen is starting to feel a little cramped - especially when stacked up against competition such as the 4.8-inch HD screen on the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Leaked images suggest a similar glass front but with a proportionally longer display: enough for an extra row of app icons, which may cause app developers some headaches or mean that older apps have black lines at either edge, working as they always used to. The longer screen could make video watching more pleasurable as it'll be closer to the widescreen 16 x 9 ratio.

"Considering the moves made by the rest of the smartphone industry to increase screen size, it will be interesting to see whether Apple follows suit," says Luke Peters, editor of gadget magazine T3.

- How much we want it - 7/10
- Probability factor - 7/10

Colour cases
The iPhone 5 is rumoured to be available in an array of colours, not just the standard black or white as seen in previous models.

- How much we want it - 8/10
- Probability factor - 6/10

Rear metal jacket
It will also have a metal back. Since it's hard to get signals (wi-fi, 3G and so on) through metal, expect a section that's more signal-friendly like glass or plastic. The first iPhone had a plastic section on the back for this purpose.

- How much we want it - 9/10
- Probability factor - 10/10

The iPhone 5 will be complemented by the iPad Mini
But the iPhone 5 may not make its September debut alone. Apple is also rumoured to be readying a slimmed-down iPad Mini later this year, to complement the iPhone 5.

Venturebeat claims that the iPad Mini will feature a 7.1-inch screen, with Apple apparently already buying up these smaller screens from manufacturers.

- How much we want it - 7/10
- Probability factor - 6/10

A faster, more powerful processor
This one is pretty much a given, particularly if Moore's Law is anything to go by, which predicts a doubling in the speed and power of a device's processing chip every 18 months. In real-world terms this means faster, better gaming and apps. Which is, of course, top news! Expect to see a quad-core processor arrive in the new iPhone 5 - most likely called the Apple A6.

"There has been a spec-surge of late, with the likes of HTC and Samsung releasing the most powerful phones we've ever seen," says Peters. "If Apple wants to win over Android users, it will need to match, if not better, these new superphones."

- How much we want it - 10/10
- Probability factor - 10/10

Your dock connector won't fit
The familiar 31-pin connector on the base of the phone is likely to be replaced with a smaller one - though not the microUSB connection on almost every other handset. So your iPod speakers will need to be replaced or to have an adaptor to work.

- How much we want it - 2/10
- Probability factor - 10/10

Slimmer, happier, more productive...
The iPhone 5 is reported to be rocking a noticeably different design to the previous iPhone 4 and 4S models, with new casing for a five-inch-screen model rumoured.

According to Business Insider, the slimmer, big-screen iPhone 5 did exist late last year (before Steve Job's untimely death). However, the company chose not to release it in 2011 as it didn't want to create a 'two tier' iPhone ecosystem and its engineers wanted to develop the product further before any announcements were made.

- How much we want it - 8/10
- Probability factor - 9/10

Mobile wallet
The new software might include a neat feature called Passbook which will collect together your boarding passes, tickets and more. It may be connected to the phone's GPS, so your plane ticket could pop up on screen as you approach the airport. And it could feature NFC, the contactless connection used in the London Oyster card system. NFC is already on several mobile phones but Apple could be the first with an end-to-end system to make NFC really work, though again it may only be for the US at first.

- How much we want it - 9/10
- Probability factor - 9/10

A curved screen
Other reports, citing one of Apple's suppliers as a source, claim the new iPhone 5 will have a curved 4.6-inch Retina screen.

A source told South Korean newspaper Maeil Business that Apple has already started placing orders for the curved screen for its forthcoming new iPhone.

- How much we want it - 9/10
- Probability factor - 9/10

4G LTE support
Superfast 4G LTE mobile web functionality is pretty much a given for the new iPhone 5, since it is already featured in the third-gen iPad released back in March.

However, 4G mobile web access won't be of much interest to Brits until we have a nationwide 4G network to match that of our US cousins over the pond. Everything Everywhere, the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, announced its own superfast 4G network yesterday. This promises download speeds of up to 40mbit/second - unheard of for mobile devices up until now. Will the iPhone 5 take advantage of this? We certainly hope so!

- How much we want it - 5/10
- Probability factor - 9/10

New software
The latest OS, version 6, is likely to be on board with gorgeous new maps (courtesy of TomTom) and improved capabilities from Siri, the voice recognition program. Note that some of the Siri features may only be available in the US at first. According to Venturebeat it might also feature the app search tool Chomp, which allows users to filter through the App Store quickly and easily.

- How much we want it - 10/10
- Probability factor - 10/10

Near Field Communication (NFC)
Expect to hear a lot more about NFC in the next few months. The Samsung Galaxy S3 - one of the iPhone's biggest competitors - includes NFC, a feature that makes it easy to swap content between phones and also to pay for goods using contactless pay points. Apple's new iPhone 5 is almost certain to feature NFC.

- How much we want it - 6/10
- Probability factor - 10/10

An even better camera
The eight-megapixel camera on the iPhone 4S is an absolute belter, but internet whispers suggest that we might see an even better, Sony-manufactured camera packed into the new iPhone 5 later this year.

9to5Mac quoted Sony boss Howard Stringer last year claiming that: "Our best sensor technology is built in one of the tsunami-affected factories. Those go to Apple for their iPhones or iPads. Isn't that something? They buy our best sensors from us."

A new streamlined Sony camera with a back-illuminated CMOS sensor would certainly enable Apple to make the iPhone 5 considerably slimmer than the current iPhone 4S, which means that this is an iPhone 5 rumour that makes a lot of commercial sense.

- How much we want it - 6/10
- Probability factor - 10/10

A bigger battery, smaller sim
That 4G drains battery life faster, so it's likely there'll be a bigger cell in the iPhone 5. And since Apple likes to make other components smaller to allow for more battery, expect the rumours of a nano sim to be true. Apple switched from a regular sim card to a micro sim with the iPhone 4 and now nearly every high-end phone favours the smaller model. A similar rush to the smallest sim may follow from other manufacturers.

Overall, the new iPhone is likely to be a much bigger upgrade than from iPhone 4 to 4S. And though many fanboys will be disappointed, you can expect it to sell in greater numbers even than its super-selling predecessors.

- How much we want it - 8/10
- Probability factor - 9/10

A 3D screen
Avid iPhone gamers are talking a lot about the possibility of an auto-stereoscopic (glasses-free) 3D screen on the iPhone 5, which would enable the new smartphone to go head-to-head with Nintendo's own 3DS console.

But this is one that definitely isn't going to happen. Why would Apple have any interest in taking on Nintendo in its increasingly niche market? It already has thousands of creative game developers and millions of happy gamers worldwide. Why follow the lead of Nintendo and bet the farm on a 3D gimmick?

- How much we want it - 5/10
- Probability factor - 1/10