A new report posted by Joshua Topolsky at This Is My Next seems to contradict the rumors we’ve been hearing in the past weeks in describing the next-generation iPhone — so far dubbed iPhone 5 — as a complete redesign of the existing iPhone 4 hardware. The report comes with a mockup based on sketches and descriptions the website received by multiple sources over the past weeks, and shows a dramatically thinner device with a “thick to thin” design from top to bottom similar to MacBook Air’s main body, and a larger multitouch display set at approximately 3.7 inches. The change in size would allow Apple to keep the existing Retina Display branding with a drop to 312ppi (iPhone 4 features 326ppi, and Apple claims a “Retina Display” can be called so starting at 300ppi on an iPhone), and it’s something that’s been rumored before and even spotted in allegedly leaked Apple design documents.

Our sources say the new model (or at least one of the new designs in testing) looks “more like the iPod touch than the iPhone 4.” The phone will be thinner than the iPhone 4, and may have a “teardrop” shape which goes from thick to thin (something along the lines of the MacBook Air profile).

This Is My Next also claims the Home button will become larger, doubling as a “gesture area” for a series of multitouch commands likely inspired by the ones introduced in the iOS 4.3 developer betas. Apple was rumored to be considering an early departure for the Home button, but the website claims the company has been playing around with various prototypes and design iterations, and one of them indeed sports a larger, redesigned version of the Home button. With a larger, almost edge-to-edge screen, Apple is apparently also experimenting with the idea of earpieces and sensors hidden directly behind the display’s glass:

Furthermore, we’re hearing that the screen on the device will occupy the entire (or near to it) front of the phone, meaning almost no bezel. Our source says the company is doing very “interesting things” with bonded glass technology, and has been exploring designs where the earpiece and sensors are somehow behind the screen itself, making for a device where the display is actually edge-to-edge.

Other details reported by This Is My Next include a “swipe area” for NFC capabilities, inductive charging and world-phone functionality with a global CDMA-GSM chipset. Again, these features have been in the rumor mill before, but This Is My Next’s report is mostly interesting because of the design speculation included in the article that contradicts several rumors we’ve recently heard. And even if the design may never make it to the final version of the iPhone 5, TIMN says it’s being tested by Apple:

The versions of devices our sources are seeing could be design prototypes and not production-ready phones. Still, there are strong indications that Apple will surprise a public that’s expecting a bump more along the lines of the 3G to 3GS — and this is some insight into where those designs might be headed.

9to5mac has posted a photo from Chinese reseller of Apple parts iDealsChina showing a a purported digitizer panel for the next-generation iPhone, dubbed iPhone 5. The front panel shows a bigger display with an “edge-to-edge” screen that reduces the size of the bezels, especially at the sides. iDealsChina writes:

China’s 1st iPhone 5 photo has surfaced! From this photo it seems that the screen size will be larger than iPhone 4. There has been a lot of specualtion about a larger screen and maybe this will be one of the upgrades we will see when iPhone 5 is released this summer.

We heard that more photos of parts for iPhone 5 may be available soon. The part we would like to see is the back of iPhone 5 to verify if the rumored tapered back is true.

Several readers have pointed out that the image could be easily modified in Photoshop, but it also appears to back up the rumors surfaced in the past weeks about a new iPhone with a 4-inch screen “edge-to-edge” buit to face the competition of Android handsets sporting bigger and larger displays. In spite of the problems with a new iPhone resolution happening this year, we heard a few months ago that the iPhone 5 would be a “complete redesign” with major new features, like NFC support. It’s not clear from the photo whether or not Apple could keep the iPhone form factor at the same size and increase the size of the display at the same time.

With rumors about a smaller iPhone floating around since last week, the latest report from Digitimes surely is interesting. According to the publication, Apple might expand the next generation iPhone’s screen to 4 inches, mainly to compete with various Android handsets that come with displays larger than the iPhone 4.

Apple reportedly will change the screen size of iPhone to 4-inch for its fifth generation iPhone to compete with the Google Android platform in the 4- to 7-inch smartphone market, according to upstream component suppliers.

The component suppliers noted that the production lines for Apple’s next generation iPhone have begun testing, and Apple is interesting in expanding the screen size to 4-inches to support the tablet PC market as the vendor only has a 9.7-inch iPad in the market.

A bigger iPhone screen would raise questions on the resolution of the device, which is currently dubbed as “Retina” thanks to its DPI on the current 3.5-inch display. Another report from last week suggested Apple might adopt Samsung’s Super LPS screen technology, which offers greater viewing angles and brightness. Engadget reported in January that the iPhone would come with a radical new design which, if the rumors are to believed, would play well with this 4-inch screen theory. Digitimes has a good track record on Apple’s production chain reports, and admittedly a slightly bigger display would be pretty cool in our opinion.

In the past months, other rumors pointed to Apple building an iPhone with NFC capabilities for easy mobile payments (although iOS-to-iOS communication would be interesting, too), dual-core processor and LTE for a summer launch “at the earliest”. Earlier today, a new report suggested Apple has been considering three different iPhone 5 models with one of them featuring a slide-out physical keyboard — again, to possibly compete with Android devices. Last, the iPhone 5 is rumored to be a worldphone with integrated GSM / CDMA antennas.

Does the iPad overheat when used outside under directly sunlight or warm weather? U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogol has thrown out the case, where plaintiffs claimed Apple deceptive Apple marketing. The plaintiffs argued that books “don’t shut down,” arguing Apple advertised that the iPad was able to be read “just like an open book.”  Computerworld reports that this case didn’t go very far.

“The Court concludes that these allegations are insufficient,” Fogel wrote in his order. “At the least, Plaintiffs must identify the particular commercial or advertisement upon which they relied and must describe with the requisite specificity the content of that particular commercial or advertisement.”

I’m not going to outside and roast my iPad on the sidewalk and wait for it to overheat, but with any sort of common sense (or perhaps purchasing sense) you should realize the iPad’s screen is pretty glossy and isn’t desirable to read in sunlight in the first place. The Judge has given the plaintiff thirty days to gather evidence per his request, but what could they dig up? Commenters, do you think Apple any of Apple’s advertisements or website promotions could be sufficient for this case?

[Computerworld via Macworld]

With the iPad 2 set to come out sometime in April and Apple reportedly about to announce a media event to unveil the new device in February, the Apple rumor mill is in fully-working state. And when it comes to the next-generation iPad, two are the kinds of rumors that blogs and publications are reporting: Retina Display and faster processor. Lately, we have noticed a rapid increase in the presence of “iPad Retina Display” rumors on the Internet. (more…)

Well in the past 24 hours we’ve had another two rumors regarding the iPad 2’s screen resolution. First there was DigiTimes that reported Apple would up the iPad’s screen resolution to that oft-reported figure of 2048 x 1536. Then Kevin Rose who had previously stated the iPad 2 would have a Retina Display reversed his position with a picture of text messages from his supposed source who said “no change in resolution” which he posted on Instagram.

Then there was also the suggestion that floated across various blogs and publications that Moore’s law suggested the iPad 2 wouldn’t have a retina display. Both DigiTimes and Kevin Rose have dubious accuracy regarding Apple rumors and this vicious back and forth contradictions of rumors regarding the display are certainly odd.

UPDATE: Oddly, Kevin Rose seems to have removed the Instagram photo which is now unaccessible and does not appear in his Instagram feed.

So readers, what are your thoughts on this whole high resolution/retina display on the iPad 2 rumor merry-go-round?

[Via Cult of Mac, DigiTimes]