Edible Apple

Well as many of the iPhone 5 rumors begin to crystallize – we now have a unveiling/launch date and know many of the upcoming features – Jeremy Horwitz tosses a monkey wrench into what we all thought we knew.

Horwitz has typically proven to be rather reliable in the past, which is why his most recent post over at iLounge is particularly interesting.

Now it’s been reported for quite some time, and seemingly corroborated by leaked device parts, that the iPhone 5 will move from the standard 30 pin dock connector in favor of an 19 pin connector. Reports of a “micro dock”, as it were, first surfaced this past May. The objective of shrinking the dock connector, we should point out, is simply a matter of saving space inside the device for more important items, oh like you know, the battery.

A few months back we wrote:

Notably, a number of rumors have pointed to the iPhone 5 not only housing a larger screen, but also support 4G LTE networks. These two factors, even by themselves, but especially when taken together, demand outstanding battery life. The current lineup of 4G enabled Android handsets sport notoriously poor battery life.

The current 30-pin dock connector is by no means terribly large, but when you have a device as advanced and capable as a modern day smartphone, every piece of real estate, no matter how small, is incredibly important. Also, remember that when commenting on Apple’s patience with respect to rolling out 4G equipped iPhones, Tim Cook stated that 4G chipset designs were too bulky to meet Apple’s stringent design objectives.

Since then, we’ve seen a plethora of leaked iPhone parts which all have 19 pin connectors, and yet here comes the reliable Jeremy Horwitz with news of an 8-pin connector. Say what?!

According to two sources, Apple’s new Dock Connector features only 8 pins, seemingly contradicting claims of “16-pin” and “19-pin” connectors. Although the original Dock Connector contained 30 pins, reports of 16- or 19-pin connectors seemed hard to square with the port’s small size and Apple’s actual need for additional pins beyond what USB/Micro-USB offer. No images or parts for the connector have leaked out, either. Both of our sources concur that there are eight pins in a line within the new Dock Connector, which may well receive a different name going forward.

And Horwitz also relays some news about a heretofore unannounced iOS 6 feature that will bridge Apple devices via Bluetooth 4.

The feature would enable, say, a future iPod nano to display iMessages received by an iPhone, record voice memos that could be shared via the iPhone, and even initiate phone calls through its own headphones. It could also conceivably let you make iPhone calls from your iPad (or possibly even recent Macs), assuming the iPhone was paired with the computer over Bluetooth. The core concept here might sound familiar to fans of HP’s ill-fated TouchPad, but our source claims that it’ll be more broadly and deeply executed by Apple.

Apple’s iPhone 5 unveiling is set to take place on September 12. This has been corroborated by a number of media outlets but still no official invitations have been sent out yet. As for the launch, that’s rumored for Wednesday September 21.