New details on the iPhone 5 surface

By Molly McHugh December 28, 2011

The iPhone 4S isn’t quite as shiny and new as it was a mere month ago, and in the wake of its now-normalcy come new iPhone 5 rumors. Up until now we’ve been able to gather that the next-gen iPhone will sport a new design, larger display, and that it might be a 4G capable.

Now BGR says it has inside information that the iPhone 5 will be launched in the fall of 2012, and that the new phone will not only have a different look but a different feel. According to the site’s sources, the next iPhone will have “rubber or plastic” material built into its case as a new take on the device’s bezel. This will accompany a new aluminum back plate and new antenna system.

Until this point, we’ve heard that the iPhone 5 would be released earlier than the iPhone 4S was, perhaps sticking to Apple’s original summer launch schedule. But if BGR is right, that means Apple might have an incredibly busy third quarter. We heard yesterday that the Apple iTV is supposed to debut in the second or third quarter of 2012, which makes us a bit dubious about this roadmap. The iTV and iPhone 5 launches will be huge, chaos-creating events that the media and consumers will revolve around for weeks. Lump these closely and Apple risks cannibalizing some of that attention.

Of course there will be some consumers that have to choose between an iTV and iPhone 5 – although we’d predict favor would heavily fall to the handset. We don’t expect these two products to launch side-by-side or share the spotlight, and maybe that means we’ll see the iPhone 5 a little earlier than predicted.

As far as the design news goes, the iPhone 5’s form factor has been all over the place since day one. The tear-drop shape rumors persist, and now we can add rubberized bezel and aluminum back plate to the list. It would be a pretty large jump from the current design Apple has follow, and one we can already imagine hearing complaints about.

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