Vacation blackout suggests Apple is keeping with tradition

Aug 22, 2012 06:41 GMT  ·  By

Verizon has ordered a vacation blackout between September 21 and September 30, the timeframe during which Apple is said to unveil its next-generation iPhone.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a “trusted” employee of America’s Verizon Wireless has confirmed to TechCrunch that the operator has instated “an all-staff vacation blackout from the dates of Friday, September 21 to September 30.”

While not confirming the actual reason for the blackout, most bets are on the iPhone 5 launch, for multiple reasons.

For once, it’s very much in line with tradition. The iPhone 4S was announced on Tuesday, October 4 last year, and became available for pre-order just three days later. Physical availability of the handset was then confirmed for Friday, October 14.

If the Cupertino giant is, indeed, holding its big event on September 12 this year, as most pundits say, then September 21 sounds fairly accurate (regarding the shipping of Apple’s next-generation smartphone).

Speculation aside, the majority of the latest hardware leaks tell a very conclusive story about the design and functionality of Apple’s iPhone 5, or “the new iPhone,” as the company might end up calling it.

For instance, it has been confirmed to have a taller display with Retina-grade quality visuals. It will have redesigned chassis featuring an aluminum unibody shell.

The dock connector too has been redesigned – it’s smaller and orientation-independent, according to reports.

The headphone jack has been relocated to the bottom of the device, much like on the iPod touch. A rumored iPad mini is also said to adopt these last two features.

Glass / plastic plates at the top and bottom of the back shell will act as antenna windows for Wi-Fi and possibly LTE / 4G networking.

The cameras are obviously going to be enhanced as well, though we aren’t sure by how much (i.e. how many megapixels). The current iPhone 4S boasts an 8-megapixel sensor, which is more than enough to create true works of art, with the right skills.