Apple's iPhone 6 To Be Solar-powered (Extended Battery Life?)

Analysts say new iPhone is likely to feature Sapphire Glass screen embedded with solar cells

A SOLAR-POWERED iPhone 6 is likely to be one of the "tricks" Apple chief Tim Cook has up his sleeve, analysts say.

The California-based company released its "best quarter of iPhone and iPad sales to date" yesterday, says The Register, with revenue of $57.6bn and a quarterly net profit of $13.1bn. But its share price dipped reportedly because its conservative sales projections for the opening three months of 2014 have investors worried about a lack of growth.


Apple's revenue outlook for the quarter to March 2014 is between $42bn and $44bn. During the same quarter last year, Apple posted revenues of $43.6bn.
What's needed to ensure continued growth over the longer term, says The Register, is a Next Big Thing. That may be the much-discussed Apple television or iWatch, but it could also be a radically-updated iPhone.

ZDNet agrees, saying "solar energy may be what Apple needs to put the 'i' back into innovation."
Apple filed a patent in February 2013 which included the use of touch sensors and solar panel, but the application didn't mention how the device might work.
Since then, its partnership with mineral crystal specialist GT Advanced Technologies, has triggered speculation  that the iPhone 6's Sapphire Glass screen "will be embedded with solar cells", ZDNet says.

ZDNet's conclusion: "Apple is quite likely to use sapphire and solar charging in its devices in future, and one can expect the next iPhone or iWatch to come with the same in or around September-October 2014."


Source:  The Week

iPhone 5 may be announced this June after all, or not

June and Apple's WWDC is coming, but still there are no rumors on the iPhone 5. Yesterday two independent reports indicated the iPhone 5 will be launched at the end of June and the opposite thing - it will not launch until September.
According to the South Korean news outlet ETNews.co.kr Apple will announce the iPhone 5 during the upcoming WWDC and will release it as usual by the end June simultaneously in many countries including South Korea (SK and TK).

The Loop, on the other hand, claims it has its sources who are still keen that there will be no iPhone 5 announcement at the WWDC. They insist it will be released in September instead.

Previous rumors have it that the iPhone 5 will have a dual core A5 chipset, an 8 megapixel camera, bigger internal storage (and screen eventually), NFC support and even a metal casing. We guess we'll only know for sure this June.