14 DAY TRIAL // With Apple rumored to launch a brand new lineup of iDevices this year, designer Martin Hajek is practicing his mockup skills with iPhone mini and iPad 5 renderings giving us what could be an accurate picture of Apple’s portables for 2013.
If Apple does end up launching a cheaper iPhone this year – an improbable scenario by numerous accounts – Hajek believes it will look a lot like the iPhone 5, only shorter.
Considering that Apple already has this iPhone on the market – in the form of the iPhone 4 – it begs the question: why bother designing a new one altogether?
Still, analysts say Apple can still shave off a few bucks in manufacturing costs by employing plastic instead of aluminum for the shell.
Hard to believe Apple will go against its own rules, but then again, many of us didn’t think they’d ever make the iPad mini.
Hajek also envisions the upcoming iPhone 5S looking pretty much exactly like the iPhone 5 only with more pop, as well as the iPad 5 with a design akin to that of the iPad mini (including a shrunken bezel).
More and more analysts believe Apple will actually release two new iPhones this year. Some see the additional device as either the iPhone “mini,” or the iPhone 6. Pretty much all of them agree than the iPhone 5S is a given.
The iPad 5 is said to be lighter and thinner, and so many researchers believe Apple will forego the current design and adopt the one used in the iPad mini.
The new diminutive form factor has proved immensely popular among longtime fans of the Cupertino company, as well as with non-Apple buyers.
The cheap iPhone rumor, however, is the hardest to digest. It still seems pretty impossible that Apple will forego premium for market-share.
