More iPhone 5S Specs Emerge With Release-Date Announcement Pending

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With Apple‘s Worldwide Developers Conference less than two weeks away, many of the company’s fans will be looking for an announcement about the pending iPhone 5S.

But don’t get your hopes up most signs point to the event focusing on the rollout of iOS 7, the update to Apple’s mobile operating system; improvements to its OS for Mac computers; and potential Mac hardware updates. Wired goes as far too say it “would be extraordinarily surprised” if a new iPhone or iPad were introduced.

We did, however, get more speculation about specifications for the new iPhone this week so that will have to tide you over for now. A Chinese website said the device will have improved screen resolution (not a huge surprise, since many upgrades do), but also indicated that it will have a thinner bezel. NDTV said it’a unlikely the screen size will increase from the four inches that the iPhone 5 sports, despite calls from those who think Apple needs to go bigger in order to keep up with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and other phones that have 4.5-inch screens and larger.

Other rumored specifications are a quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. Most analysts predict production will start in June, with sales beginning in September.

StatesChronicle claims that the much-discussed, budget-friendly iPhone will come to fruition this year, and that customers will be able to get it in a number of different colors. And Bloomberg quoted Yuanta Financial Holdings analyst Vincent Chen, who said Pegatron Corp. of Taiwan will build the cheaper device. That would be a switch for Apple, which has previously relied on Foxconn to assemble it.

Meantime, Fubon Financial Holding analyst Arthur Liao said this week that the less expensive iPhone could be released as soon as the third quarter. It’ll feature cheaper components and a plastic casing. A dumbed-down iPhone, so to speak, is an idea Apple execs have pooh-poohed in the past, but many industry insiders believe the company needs a device that’s more affordable in emerging markets in order to compete with its rivals. That device, Liao said, could carry an unsubsidized price tag of between $300 and $350, a little more than half the price of the iPhone 5.

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