MacRumors

Parts and repair firm iResQ has been slowly building its own iPhone 5 as parts have been coming in, as shown in yesterday's photos revealing the battery installed into the rear shell alongside several other components such as the dock connector/headphone jack flex cable, external buttons flex cable, and the rear camera assembly.

iResQ has now added a front panel to the mix, providing a good overall look at the iPhone 5 with several closeup photos. The assembly is of course non-functional, as it is missing the logic board and several other components, but nearly all of the externally-visible features are in place.

Perhaps most notable is one closeup side-on shot showing the iPhone 5 laying next to an iPhone 4S on a table. The photo shows that the iPhone 5 is indeed substantially thinner than the iPhone 4S, by approximately the thickness of either the front or rear glass of the iPhone 4S. Apple's move toward thinner body components and a thinner distribution of internal components enabled by the larger surface area due to the 4-inch screen of the iPhone 5 have allowed the company to substantially shrink the device's overall thickness. Previous reports have pegged the iPhone 5 thickness at 7.6 mm, 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S at 9.3 mm.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 5 at its media event scheduled for next Wednesday, September 12.

According to iLounge, Apple will be the "exclusive initial supplier" for the new Dock Connector Adapter that will allow the next-generation iPhone to be used with older 30-pin Dock Connectors. Apple will reportedly sell them for $10 each or three for $29. However, it's possible that Apple will allow third parties to build the adapter at a later date.

Additional sources have confirmed to iLounge that Apple will be the exclusive initial vendor of a new Dock Connector Adapter, to be sold individually and/or in three-packs. According to sources, the Dock Connector Adapters will sell for approximately $10 each or three for $29, with Apple-branded new USB cables selling for $19 each.

According to iLounge's source, Apple predicts it will sell 10 million adapters by the end of 2012, generating $100 million in revenue. It's likely that the adapters would have an extremely high profit margin and while this is a significant amount of money, it is but a drop in the bucket compared to Apple's total sales.

AllThingsD reports that Apple has issued a statement responding to this week's leak of one million unique device identifiers (UDIDs) for iOS devices, noting that it did not provide the FBI with the information. An FBI computer was claimed by the hackers to be the source of the information, but the FBI has denied any involvement in the situation.

“The FBI has not requested this information from Apple, nor have we provided it to the FBI or any organization. Additionally, with iOS 6 we introduced a new set of APIs meant to replace the use of the UDID and will soon be banning the use of UDID,” Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris told AllThingsD.

With the AntiSec hackers claiming to be in possession of 12 million UDIDs as well as additional personal information tied to some of the numbers, it remains unclear exactly where the data came from.

Apple has been working to phase out use of the UDID, creating new tools to allow developers to track usage of their apps on a per-device basis. With the UDID being a universal identifier, it has been used by advertisers and others to collect information across apps and other usage to develop user profiles for marketing persons, and Apple's new system will seek to improve user privacy.

M.I.C. Gadget reports on photos and a video that have surfaced on Chinese site Vgooo.com [Google translation] claiming to show an iPhone 5 that boots to a screen warning that the device is not associated with a registered developer account. Several apparent features of the device do, however, call its authenticity into question, and so we are primarily posting this for interest and discussion at this point.

The video shows the device attempting to boot but being directed to a version of the error screen that appears when activation can not be completed. Rather than linking to the iPhone developer portal, however, the text contains a placeholder string of "@@url@@".

One questionable aspect of the device is the presence of a fourth hole or window at the top front of the device that has generally not been visible from the front in previous part leaks. In the iPhone 5, the camera has been moved to above the earpiece, swapping places with the proximity sensor that moves to the left of the earpiece. This leaked device contains a small fourth hole to the left of the camera, and while previous photos showing the backside of the front panel do indeed show the window, it is has not been visible from the front in any previous leaked photos.

This leaked device also contains a rather odd-looking home button in comparison to the home button seen on the iPhone 4S placed next to it in the photos and video. Apple has tweaked the design of the home button for the iPhone 5, but the button shown in the video appears to be a somewhat poor match for the device itself.

Otherwise, identifying information on the device has been either covered up or digitally obscured, rendering any specific model number or other information impossible to read.

Today we are introducing a new type of page here on MacRumors called "Roundups". We've started with a detailed roundup on the much anticipated iPhone 5. In the near future, we expect to expand these pages to cover all of Apple's products.

While MacRumors has always been a great rumor resource, we've long felt that it's been too difficult for visitors to catch-up with the latest news on a particular product. Even amongst our daily readers, we find people often lose sight of the big picture after seeing rumor after rumor. Our popular Buyer's Guide helps bridge that gap to some degree, but our new Roundup pages should take it to the next step.

The new Roundups will be more casual and to-the-point than our historical pre-event roundups. Rather than covering every possibility, we will focus on what we personally expect to happen. The other major distinction is that our Roundups will be posted early and be continuously updated week-to-week to reflect the latest rumors. The goal is that they will always reflect the current rumor outlook on any particular Apple product.

Roundups can be accessed using the Roundups navigation tab at the top of the site and we will introduce more Roundups over time.

Click here to read the iPhone 5 Roundup

With rumors and leaks offering a good bit of detail on what has been claimed to be Apple's 7.85-inch "iPad mini" setting up for an October debut, we worked with CiccareseDesign to create a new set of renderings and even a 3D model of the device that readers can explore on their own.

In coming up with this particular design, we've drawn from the numerous rumors, part leaks, and work by case manufacturers who are trying to determine what the device will look like in order to have their products ready for sale as soon as possible. What we've come up with is a thin design measuring at roughly the same thickness as the iPod touch and carrying thinner side bezels than seen on the top and bottom of the device.

One notable difference between our design and those put forth by others is the location of the headphone jack. Case manufacturers have uniformly been showing the headphone jack along the top edge of the iPad mini, as is seen on the full-size iPad, and various renderings have generally followed that standard.

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

While photos of the iPhone 5 battery have leaked several times in recent weeks, repair firm iResQ has now obtained one of the batteries and posted new photos showing the battery in the iPhone's rear shell and next to an iPhone 4S battery for comparison.

As previously seen, the iPhone 5 battery runs at 3.8 volts, potentially using new chemistry to boost capacity to 5.45 watt-hours from the 3.7-volt 5.30 watt-hour battery used in the iPhone 4S. The comparison photos show that the new battery is slightly taller than the iPhone 4S battery, and the thickness appears roughly the same despite the fact that the new iPhone is expected to be at least 15% thinner than the iPhone 4S.

Key differences between the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S battery:

1. The iPhone 5's battery is slightly less than a half an inch taller than the iPhone 4S. The thickness appears to be identical.

2. The iPhone 5 is 3.8V/5.45Whr while the iPhone 4S is 3.7V/5.3Whr.

3. The connector on the iPhone 5 is not only different, it is placed on the opposite side of the battery to accomodiate its new position within the iPhone.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 5 at next week's media event that was officially announced today.

While the highlight of next week's Apple media event will almost certainly be the next-generation iPhone, 9to5Mac reports that updated iPods are also likely to be unveiled at the event.

Details on the updates are scarce, but it appears that Apple will be releasing two or three updated product lines, all of which will be available in multiple colors. Two of the lines appear to correspond to the current iPod shuffle and iPod nano, but it is unclear exactly what the third line represents.

All these new lines will come in multiple colors, one of the lines will come in two size capacities, and the other two lines will come in a single storage capacity.

With the current iPod nanos and iPod shuffles both available in multiple colors (and with the nano currently available in two capacities and the shuffle in one), we think it is likely that new iPod nanos and iPod shuffles are launching next week.

However, it is possible that there is a third line as well (that, too, comes in multiple colors). With the iPod touch currently available in two colors and three capacities (black/white, 8GB, 32GB, 64GB) we don’t believe that the iPod touch is third line that comes in multiple colors.

Amid rumors of a revamped iPod nano with larger screen and home button, the report speculates that the third product could arrive as a new line, allowing Apple to continue offering the current iPod nano design that has gained a following for its small size combined with touchscreen capabilities.

Assuming that the third, unidentified product line is not a revamp of the iPod touch, today's report does not address Apple's plans for its most popular iPod. Apple has been said to be updating it with a 4-inch display similar to the next-generation iPhone's, as well as improved performance and a redesigned body. A front panel with an opening for a 4-inch display said to be for the new iPod touch did leak back in May, but other part leaks for the redesigned iPod touch have been non-existent.

The Loop reports that Apple has just sent out invitations for a media event scheduled for next week Wednesday, September 12. The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern. The tagline on the invitation is simply "It's almost here."

Apple is of course expected to introduce the next-generation iPhone and give a final preview of iOS 6 at the event. Apple's "iPad mini" is reportedly also nearing a launch, but sources have indicated that Apple is planning a second media event for October to introduce that product. Apple's iPod lineup is also rumored to be seeing an update at one of the two events, while rumored iMac updates and the launch of a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro are likely to appear separately.

There's clearly a "5" in the shadow of the invitation, suggesting that Apple's next iPhone will indeed be called the iPhone 5.