Thursday, July 31, 2014

Monthly Recap for July 2014




The mobile tech rumor mill has been steadily churning away this month, as reports of possible iPhone 6 features and upcoming release dates have been dominating the headlines. While Apple's new iPhone 6 has been most of the talk as of late, we have also heard some rumors about Apple's next-generation iPads and discovered a few interesting tidbits about iOS 8 along the way.

There have been a number of rumors going around about the potential features of Apple's iPhone 6, with the most popular among them being talk of a sapphire display. Early this month we heard about a Youtube video from a Chinese source showing off what appeared to be a front glass panel claimed to be from the iPhone 6. Several days later another Youtube video surfaced from a different source, showing a similar looking glass panel alleged to be made of sapphire.

Later we heard of another video showing one of the alleged iPhone 6 panels put through a series of scratch and bend torture tests. The results of the test seemed at the time to confirm the panel could possibly be made of sapphire. However, in yet another video posted by the same Youtuber, we watched as the glass panel was put through a second torture test only this time with much different results. So will we see the iPhone 6 debut with a sapphire glass display panel? It seems rather unlikely.

Among other potential iPhone 6 features that we have heard about this month are rumors of a larger capacity battery. We even seen a convincing image of a higher capacity iPhone 6 battery leak to the web. There have also been rumors that the iPhone 6 will come with some interesting hardware upgrades, including Apple's latest A8 processor, as well as possible support for NFC and next-generation 802.11ac wifi.

So what about the iPhone 6 release date? There have been rumors of a possible September release date for the iPhone 6 and Apple's new iOS 8 operating system. Chinese sources claim that mass production for the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 started this month, as Apple is gearing up for what could be the biggest iPhone launch ever. We have heard speculation that Apple plans to announce the 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6, along with the final consumer-ready build of iOS 8, at an event believed to be held during the second or third week of September.

As a side note, reports of a Chinese flyer were appearing in the news recently, supposedly displaying the iPhone 6 release date along with Chinese pricing information. However, a simple Google Images search revelead the flyer was likely a fake.

We haven't heard much about Apple's next-generation iPad lineup yet, but there have been a few rumors circulating here and there. It is being reported that Apple will be starting production for the iPads in September. If the reports are true then it seems likely that we could see an October or November release date for the new tablets. We have also heard reports that Apple is planning a split-screen multitasking feature for the iPad which we could soon see available in iOS 8.

Read The iPhreak's Monthly Recap for June.

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