BGR Confirms A Number Of Familiar iPhone Rumors

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

The team at Boy Genius Report pride themselves on being the first to break all manner of tech news, and in truth, they are often quoted by other rumors sites whenever they post their “exclusives.” However, being first isn’t the same as being right. Despite this, BGR is often pretty close on their reports and, as such, rumors which originate there aren’t immediately dismissed.

Earlier this week, BGR ran a story about an often over-looked iPhone rumor, the nano-SIM. The nano-SIM was the source of some hot debate in Europe this spring, with Apple, Motorola and Nokia all drawing up their own solutions to make the standard SIM card (used in GSM phones) even smaller. In the end, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) chose Apple’s design, though it was expected to take a few years before the nano-SIM became widely available for most phones.

No matter, as it seems some European mobile operators are already stocking up on these nano-SIMs in preparation of an imminent iPhone launch.

After checking with their “multiple carrier sources,” the team at BGR have “confirmed” Apple will, in fact, use these next generation tiny-SIMs in their next iPhone. These carrier sources told BGR Apple has been supplying them with nano-SIM adapters so they can see how these new SIMs will work on their networks. BGR also confirmed that European carriers aren’t the only ones stockpiling and testing these SIMs, saying AT&T is also taking part in this testing. They’ve reached out to AT&T for confirmation, but will undoubtedly receive no comment from Big Blue.

Yesterday, BGR ran another exclusive, “confirming” the next iPhone will boast many features we’ve expected for months now, namely 4G LTE and NFC.

Jonathan S. Geller, Head Boy at the BGR, began this report by rejecting the recent notion that Apple is already producing the next iPhone at Foxconn.

According to Geller’s sources, the next iPhone is still in the final stages of its “engineering verification test” phase, meaning Apple is still essentially testing the internals of the thing. After “EVT3,” (Where Geller says the next iPhone sits today) the phone will move to the  “design verification test” (DVT) phase. The iPhone 4 which was famously “misplaced” at a San Francisco bar was in the DVT phase.

In addition to being a few stages away from production, Geller also says the next Apple smartphone will house 1GB of RAM (up from the current 512 MB) in addition to 4G and NFC support.

These rumors have been circulating for months now and, as such, seem as plausible as anything else we’ve heard. After all, more hands have touched the alleged case parts of the next iPhone than have touched the final product of Microsoft’s Surface. However, it’s worth noting that BGR has been incredibly wrong at least once before. Last year, amidst the debate whether Apple would release a radically new ‘iPhone 5,” a mostly unchanged ‘iPhone 4S,” or, as a wild card, both, the BGR bet their bones on the tear-drop shaped iPhone 5, saying it would be announced and available in August. Wrong and wrong again.

Elsewhere in iPhone Rumorville, the first third-party case manufacturer made the first case available for the device which hasn’t launched yet. They, too, are betting their bones on that long and slim 4-inch design, complete with the rumored 19-pin dock connector.

As is often the case, we’ll have to wait until Cook and Crew take the stage in August, September or October to announce the “next iPhone” or “iPhone 5” or even simply, “the iPhone.”