[NewsPoster]

Apple is allegedly preparing to trial production of a follow-up to the iPhone 5 in December, according to rumors. The initial production of what could be called the iPhone 5S suggests that Apple may be changing its release schedule to favor a more rapid iteration of the company's flagship product, matching the short update period that the iPad went through.

Reported by Digitimes, the trial production will take place in December, and consist of between 50,000 and 100,000 units. Apple is also reportedly accelerating the certification processes for components, and could potentially start full-scale production of a new iPhone in the first quarter of 2013. The same source claims that Apple is likely to release another iPad iteration the quarter after the iPhone 5S ships, with the lower-than-expected display resolution being given as the main reason for change. It was not made clear if the same would occur for the iPad mini, it having a resolution of 1024x768 compared to the 2048x1536 of its full-size stablemate.

[Inkling]

Apple may be changing its release schedule to favor a more rapid iteration of the company's flagship product, matching the short update period that the iPad went through.

In one sense, that's good. Apple will stay more competitive in a fast changing market, and its customers will get a better product. I rather see Apple upgrade more often than have it adopt the industry practice of a confusing array of different models. And given Apple's huge sales, it can't be taking them long to recoup the development costs of any particular model.

But that's also likely to lead some customers to hold back, not buying the latest because there's be a still better model coming out in six months. That's already what I do with my Macs despite their year-plus development cycle. I wait until what I have is becoming painful to use before upgrading. I keep telling myself, I'll wait until it includes X feature (i.e. USB 3 for my iMac replacement) or Y feature (10+ hour battery life for a smaller MBA). That saves my tight writer's budget money and usually prevents buyer's regret.

My iPad 3 might have led to buyer's regret when fandom began to build around the new iPad mini. But it was held by that smaller and less sharp screen. I need every bit of my iPad to proof PDFs of 6X9 books. This iPad mini wouldn't work for that. I'll endure the fact that it weighs like a brick for that.

However, if there is a iPad mini with a retina display that'll be out soon, those who bought this model may experience buyer's remorse. The only thing's that's likely to hinder that is that iPads tend to get passed along in a family. Junior will inherit dad's iPad mini when the latter gets the latest model.

And the last is why I agree with those who're hounding Apple to make their products more fixable, particularly the battery. When some in a family grow up with passed-down Macs and iStuff, they typically use Apple products as adults. They won't do that if what they inherit has a dreadful battery life.

--Michael W. Perry, Untangling Tolkien

[Lifeisabeach]

Originally Posted by NewsPoster 

The same source claims that Apple is likely to release another iPad iteration the quarter after the iPhone 5S ships, with the lower-than-expected display resolution being given as the main reason for change. It was not made clear if the same would occur for the iPad mini...

Are you kidding me? It's the iPad mini and ONLY the iPad mini that has a lower-than-expected display resolution. The iPad 4 has EXACTLY what was expected, nor is it expected to change. Ever.

[lockhartt]

Umm... so that will really piss me off, along with anybody else that bought an iPhone 5.

Performing a 90-day upgrade cycle on a product that is tied to a two-year contract is less than smart - competitive edge aside - and screams to me that there's something fundamentally flawed in the iPhone 5 that can only be addressed via hardware revision.

I'll try not to over-react... yet.

[SockRolid]

If Apple really starts testing iPhone 5S production in December, full-scale iPhone 5S production could begin by spring. That would give Apple something to announce in spring, which looked doubtful at one point. All of Apple's product lines (except Apple TV) have been refreshed this fall. One thing looks fairly certain: the next iPhone design, whenever it is released, will probably have a simpler design. Apparently the iPhone 5's complexity is causing production problems at Foxconn.

There's one other product that could conceivably be refreshed in spring: the 4th-gen iPad. It is the last of the current iOS devices (excluding Apple TV again) that doesn't have the new-look "chamfered" edges. And it's possible that Apple could offer the updated 4th gen iPad with the same black/slate and white/aluminum color schemes of the iPad mini. So the refresh might only be cosmetic. Just to bring the "big" iPad up to date with better iOS family resemblance.

But really. Who knows? These are all just rumors.

[blahblahbber]

All that hype and bad press... they wore themselves thin; now they are on their toes, crApple. Don't say I didn't tell ya.

[SwissMac]

I wonder if a 'new model' could be one that will actually work on the German and Swiss 4G networks which use the 2,600 MHz radio band?