The New iPhone: Size, Screen + New Connector (Plus iPod touch)
Whether you call it the “iPhone 5,” the “iPhone 6,” or the “iPhone 4G”—well, maybe not the last one thanks to international regulators—the new iPhone is coming this fall, and we have some details to share.
Context & Ripple Effects
iLounge has been tracking the next iPhone's shape for two years: its August 2010 leak of iPod and iPhone plans was followed by design mockups in April 2011 and a September report on the then-unlaunched device. What is new today is specificity — an unconfirmed claim that the fall phone carries a larger body and screen plus a redesigned dock connector, with an updated iPod touch arriving alongside it.
One detail is confirmed rather than rumored: international regulators have ruled out 'iPhone 4G' as a name. The story also traveled unusually far for a rumor piece, picked up same-day by PC Magazine, TechSpot, Know Your Mobile, App Advice and four other outlets — a measure of how much accessory and carrier planning now hangs on unannounced iPhone hardware.
First-order effects
- If the connector change holds, case, dock and speaker makers building around Apple's existing 30-pin port must freeze or scrap designs months before the fall launch — the same squeeze iLounge documented when bumper-style accessories leaked in its 2010 report.
- Carriers and retail partners get their planning window: a larger-screen iPhone landing this fall slots directly into the holiday quarter, while the confirmed regulatory block on '4G' branding removes one naming option from Apple's marketing.
Second-order effects
- An updated iPod touch shipping beside the new iPhone would force the iPod line into the same connector-and-screen transition, doubling the accessory ecosystem's retooling cost in a single season.
- Apple's rivals with large-screen phones gain a talking point either way: if the bigger display ships, they lose a differentiation argument; if it slips, the rumor cycle itself becomes evidence Apple lags on screen size.
Third-order effects
- A connector change would mark the first break in Apple's peripheral compatibility chain in years, shifting value toward licensed accessory partners who move fastest on the new standard — and stranding a long tail of docks and speakers built for the old port.
- The pattern here — regulators constraining product naming, accessory makers planning against leaks rather than announcements — points toward an annualized iPhone cadence where the rumor economy is effectively part of the supply chain.
The trend: Apple's fall hardware cycle is becoming a two-stage event, with unconfirmed spec leaks driving accessory-industry retooling months before any official announcement.