MacRumors

Apple's next generation iPhone may feature a 12-megapixel camera with an improved night shooting feature and HDR reports Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn [Google Translation] (via iPhoneinCanada).

According to the site, the rumor comes from a source at Wonderful Saigon Electrics in Binh Duong, which specializes in providing camera modules for the iPhone.

An improved camera has been a long rumored feature of the iPhone 5S, but there are few specifics available.

The iPhone 5 features the same 8-megapixel rear camera with an f2.4 aperture that was introduced with the iPhone 4S, but it has a sapphire crystal for improved clarity. A further improvement to 12-megapixels with a lower aperture to improve low light photography does not sound out of the realm of possibility.

Camera improvements have been a staple of Apple's "S" phone releases. The iPhone 4S featured an 8-megapixel rear camera, a significant upgrade from the iPhone 4's 5-megapixels.

Apple has also been dedicated to enhancing the camera quality of the iPhone with each iteration as it has become a popular photography device, adding features like panoramas and a volume shutter control. The iPhone has long been the most popular camera on photo sharing site Flickr.

Tinhte.vn has shared several Apple prototypes in the past, notably offering up a preview of Apple's redesigned EarPods and an early version of the fourth generation iPod touch, the first to come equipped with a camera.

Apple today added the fifth generation iPod touch to the refurbished section of its online store, approximately six months after the device was first released.

A refurbished version of 16GB fourth generation iPod touch, which was released alongside the current iPod touch, is also being offered. The fourth generation iPod touch was originally released in 2010 with storage options of 8/32/64GB but was later updated to feature 16and 32GB of storage.

The 32GB fifth generation iPod touch is available in a range of colors for $249, a 16 percent discount off of the regular $299 price. The 64GB version is priced at $349, a $50 discount from the standard $399 price.

The 16GB fourth generation iPod touch is available in both black and white and is priced at $169, a $30 discount from the $199 price.

Apple's refurbished units come equipped with the same one-year warranty that standard products offer and have been thoroughly tested for reliability. The iPod touches can be purchased directly from the website.

Adobe today announced the launch of a free public beta of Photoshop Lightroom 5 for both Mac and Windows, offering a peek at the next major version of the company's digital photo management and post-production software. The beta program runs through June 30, with the official release of Lightroom 5 planned for later this year.

Lightroom 5 beta offers photographers and enthusiasts many new features including:

- Advanced Healing Brush allows customers to heal imperfections and remove distracting elements
- Upright tool analyzes an image to automatically level horizons and straighten objects like buildings to correct a keystone effect
- Radial Gradient tool creates off-center or multiple vignette effects
- Smart Previews allow customers to edit images without needing the original raw file
- Video slideshow enables customers to combine still images, video clips and music in a creative HD slideshow
- Upgrades to the Book module enhancing the ability to create, customize and order elegant photo books using a variety of tailored templates

Adobe's Sharad Mangalick has more on the new features in a blog post on the company's Photoshop.com Blog.

Adobe has yet to announce pricing or an exact release date for Lightroom 5, which will compete with Apple's Aperture software. Aperture 3 was released over three years ago, but Apple has continued to enhance the software with minor upgrades since that time and slashed the price to $79.99 with the launch of the Mac App Store in January 2011. Adobe responded a year later by cutting Lightroom's price in half to $149 with the launch of Lightroom 4.

Last Friday, T-Mobile USA Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert told AllThingsD that the carrier's iPhone launch that day had been "gangbusters" for the carrier with "lines out the door" at its retail stores. While the lines dissipated fairly quickly, T-Mobile undoubtedly believes that the strength of the iPhone and new "Uncarrier" plans unbundling device cost from service charges will help its standing in the competitive U.S. carrier market over the long-term.

Sievert has now followed up with CNET, and while he declined to share any specific sales numbers, he noted that the iPhone launch had given T-Mobile "one of its biggest weekends in the history of the company".

Sievert told CNET that iPhone sales did better than he expected, although he declined to provide specific figures.

"We had really ambitious internal goals, and we beat them," he said.

With the addition of T-Mobile, all four of the major U.S. carriers now offer the iPhone. Counting smaller carriers, the iPhone is now available on 22 carriers in the United States.

It's certainly not the first time fake photos alleged to be parts from upcoming Apple products have surfaced, but a particularly egregious case occurring today is starting to be picked up by other sites, so we thought it would be a good idea to nip this one in the bud.

Earlier today, we received a tip about a site sharing photos of what was said to be the iPhone 5S logic board with an A7 chip on it, along with purported specs about this chip.

Among the posted photos is a full shot of the logic board, which seems to be 100% identical to the iPhone 5 logic board with the exception of an A7 chip. While there is a decent chance that the iPhone 5 and 5S will have very similar logic boards, there will undoubtedly be some changes and the essentially identical appearance immediately flagged the iPhone 5S photo as a certain fake.

As if that evidence were not enough, the post provides additional information in the form of a closeup of the A7 chip, showing off unique part numbers and other codes not seen on the A6 chip in the iPhone 5. These codes also immediately gave away the photo as a fake, and we replied to our email tipster to point out the issue.

It's a fake. The numbers shown on that A7 chip are inconsistent and in some cases nonsensical. For example, there is a "3232" along the right side of the chip. This number should be a code noting the two-digit year and two-digit week of manufacture. Since we're not currently in the year 2032, this code is clearly fake.

In a similar vein, there is another faint manufacture date code along the bottom side of the chip for a different component within the chip. This one they failed to Photoshop, so it shows a "1227" code indicating that it was made in mid-2012 as was the case for the A6 in some early iPhone 5 devices.

We suspect our tipster was associated with the fake photos, as the closeup image was quickly replaced with a new one changing the "3232" to a more sensical "1302" corresponding to the second week of January 2013. The site's watermark on the image was also moved to obscure the second "1227" date code.

We had hesitated to post about these fake photos, but with at least half a dozen other sites having already picked up on the story with varying levels of skepticism, we thought it most important to set the record straight.

Bloomberg Businesweek reports that a survey of executive compensation at Standard & Poor's 500 companies for fiscal 2012 shows four Apple executives holding down the second, third, fourth, and fifth slots behind Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. The group of Apple executives, which does not include CEO Tim Cook, benefited from a massive stock grant shortly after the death of Steve Jobs, with the grants vesting in equal parts in 2013 and 2016 as incentives to keep the executives at the company.

Four of the five highest-paid employees at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies aren’t chief executive officers. They’re Apple Inc. senior lieutenants receiving compensation packages designed to keep management intact in an increasingly competitive industry.

The four executives are Bob Mansfield, Bruce Sewell, Jeffrey Williams and Peter Oppenheimer, according to fiscal 2012 compensation figures for top earners filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. About 80 percent of S&P 500 companies had submitted their numbers as of April 12.

The four Apple executives each received 150,000 shares as part of their grants, with the shares worth approximately $64 million each at today's stock price. Salary, bonuses, and other compensation pushed 2012 totals for Sewell, Williams, and Oppenheimer close to $70 million. Mansfield topped the group of Apple executives with total compensation of $85.5 million, as he received accelerated vesting of shares as an incentive to remain at Apple after he had announced his retirement.

Two other Apple executives saw major stock grants in November 2011, with marketing chief Phil Schiller receiving the same 150,000 restricted stock units as the other senior executives and Internet Software and Service head Eddy Cue receiving 100,000 units just two months after receiving another 100,000 units in recognition of his promotion to the senior vice president level. Schiller and Cue were not, however, included in Bloomberg Businessweek's rankings, as their total compensation is not publicly reported by Apple.

Cook ranked 1016th on this year's list with total compensation of $4.17 million, although he is benefiting from a previous award of one million restricted stock units made when he became CEO. Those units are worth $425 million at today's stock price, with half of the units vesting in 2016 and the remaining half vesting in 2021.

Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are reporting that Foxconn has begun hiring new workers in support of iPhone 5S production. The articles follow a separate report from The Wall Street Journal earlier this month claiming that production on the new iPhone would begin this quarter ahead of a potential summer launch.

From today's Wall Street Journal report:

A company spokesman declined to elaborate on production plans, only saying that Foxconn will continue to expand its workforce in Zhengzhou to meet seasonal demand from clients. But executives familiar with the situation said the company has stepped up hiring in Zhengzhou because it is preparing for production of the new iPhone.

"We have been very busy recently as we will start mass-producing the new iPhone soon," said a Zhengzhou-based executive who has direct knowledge of production plans.

Bloomberg's source offered similar information on Foxconn's hiring push:

Workers have been recruited at Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou, eastern China, for the past month, ending a hiring freeze imposed in February, said the person, who asked not to be named because the plans haven’t been made public. The extra workers will assemble the new device as well as existing models and have been added at Apple’s request to boost capacity, the person said.

Apple has been rumored to be planning to introduce its next-generation iPhone as soon as the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, which has itself been rumored for its usual June timeframe.

Other reports have, however, been pushing their predictions of the iPhone 5S launch later in 2013, with relatively reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo just last week having predicted that work on a fingerprint sensor would result in the iPhone 5S launching later than many observers have expected. Kuo declined to offer a specific target date for the iPhone 5S launch, but outlined three possible scenarios involving a launch taking place between September and November.

With rumors of an Apple smart watch ramping up over the past few months, a number of other companies have also reportedly been working on their own projects involving watches and other wearable devices. Last month, both Samsung and Google were reported to be working on their own projects, and now The Wall Street Journal indicates that Microsoft is also exploring the possibility of a smart watch.

Earlier this year, Microsoft asked suppliers in Asia to ship components for a potential watch-style device, the executives said. One executive said he met with Microsoft's research and development team at the software company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters. But it's unclear whether Microsoft will opt to move ahead with the watch, they said. [...]

For its potential new watch prototype, Microsoft has requested 1.5-inch displays from component makers, said an executive at a component supplier.

The report notes that this is not Microsoft's first foray into smart watch technology, with the company having launched its Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) platform in 2004 through partnerships with watch companies such as Fossil and Suunto.

Those watches, which received data through Microsoft's MSN Direct FM radio-based service, were discontinued by 2008, but the idea of smart watches is experiencing a rebirth as companies look to make the experience of today's mobile devices even more "personal".

(Image: Suunto's n3 smart watch from 2004, based on Microsoft's SPOT technology)

Intuit Chairman Bill Campbell has been on Apple's Board of Directors since Steve Jobs took over as CEO in 1997. In a town hall meeting at Intuit headquarters, Campbell spoke with Intuit CEO Brad Smith about a number of topics including how to make a product great, what makes the best managers, and more.

Looking towards the future, Campbell didn't mention future Apple products specifically, but he did point to another new product -- Google Glass -- as a blueprint for the future. From Bloomberg Businessweek:

Campbell did tell the audience to expect to see "a lot of things going on with the application of technology to really intimate things." He pointed to Google Glass as one such intimate object. “It’s a phenomenal breakthrough,” he said. "When you start to think about glasses or watches, they become as intimate as the cell phone was."

Campbell also praised Tony Fadell's Nest thermostat, as well saying technology managers should act as "editors", mentioning Steve Jobs and Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey specifically.

Apple is reported to be working on a smart watch, exactly the sort of "intimate" device that Campbell is referring to.

Pebble, the e-paper smart watch that earned more than $10 million on Kickstarter, now has an official public SDK available for iOS developers.

Your patience has been rewarded…you have a brand new Pebble Smartwatch in your hands. And, of course, now you want to make it do your bidding.

This developer documentation will show you how to create your own functionality for a Pebble Smartwatch.

At this point in time the SDK is limited to creating different watch faces and does not support the creation of standard apps, though the Pebble website says that a Sports SDK will be added soon, allowing developers to incorporate Runkeeper-style features.

The new Watchface SDK comes alongside version 1.10 of PebbleOS, which also offers up options for disabling backlighting and vibrations along with several bug fixes for iOS users.

U.S. carrier Verizon has changed its phone upgrade policies, making customers wait longer between upgrades. Until now, customers with a two-year agreement could upgrade at 20 months.

Now, customers will only be able to upgrade at 24 months, when their contract is up. The first customers impacted by this change are those whose contracts expire in January 2014.

In alignment with the terms of the contract, customers on a two-year agreement will be eligible for an upgrade at 24 months vs. today's early upgrade eligibility at 20 months. This change aligns the upgrade date with the contract end date and is consistent with how the majority of customers purchase new phones today. The first customers impacted by this change are customers whose contracts expire in January 2014. As always, customers may purchase a new phone at the full retail price at any time.

Verizon's main competitor, AT&T, allows customers to upgrade after 20 months, with an "early upgrade" allowed at an earlier time with a larger initial payment. Sprint offers upgrades after 20 months as well.

T-Mobile recently rolled out its new "uncarrier" plans, allowing customers to buy an iPhone 5 for $100 down plus 24 monthly payments of $20. Customers can buy a new phone at any time, but they will still be responsible for the monthly payments on prior phone purchases.

Topeka analyst Brian White today issued a new research note summarizing his thoughts on the phone he calls the iPhone 5S, expected to be released this summer. Most notably, he seems to have reversed his prior assertion that the next iPhone will have multiple screen sizes, noting that at a trade show in China there was a consensus amongst his sources that the screen size will be unchanged from the iPhone 5.

He claims the left side volume and mute buttons will be arranged differently, in line with a parts leak from yesterday, and says the rumored fingerprint technology will be the differentiating feature for the 5S, like what Siri was to the 4S.

White also shares some additional thoughts about the rumored cheaper iPhone he expects this summer:

Strangely enough, the lower-priced iPhone is still being called the "iPhone mini"; however, the general consensus (albeit a few disagreed and expect a slightly smaller screen) was that this new device would actually have the same screen size (i.e., 4-inches) as the iPhone 5. However, the "iPhone mini" will have a curved back casing made of colored plastic and will be thicker than the iPhone 5. We also learned the pricing could be a bit higher than our recently raised expectation, reaching as high as $400.

The picture around this summer's iPhone releases should continue to come into focus as we see more hardware leaks and get closer to the expected launch.

In line with its launch previously announced launch plans, T-Mobile USA today officially launched the iPhone, offering the iPhone 5 nationwide and the iPhone 4S and 4 in markets where the devices are supported on its network. The T-Mobile iPhone is also available through Apple's online store at full price with interest-free financing offered through Barclaycard.

TechCrunch notes that some T-Mobile retail stores are seeing small lines this morning as customers seek to purchase the device using under T-Mobile's new "Uncarrier" service plans which begin at $50/month with no contract. The business model separates the device and service costs, putting the full unsubsidized device cost onto a separate 24-month payment plan.

As noted by TmoNews, T-Mobile has also rolled out a new television ad for the iPhone, touting the pairing of the popular device with T-Mobile's network and service plans.

It's the phone that's revolutionizing phones. Make sure it's running on the carrier that's revolutionizing wireless. Introducing iPhone 5 on T-Mobile. With our advanced nationwide 4G network, and no more restrictive annual contracts required, only T-Mobile lets your iPhone 5 be as great as an iPhone 5.