14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that Apple’s next-generation iPhone really does have a smaller dock connector, as leak after leak seems to confirm the new spec. The latest photographic evidence, however, puts an all-new spin on the story.
Word on the web is that Apple’s iPhone 5 is slated to be unveiled this September. Around that time, the company is said to discontinue its longstanding 30-pin dock connector currently used in all iDevices shipped since the mid-2000’s.
Hardware leaks indicate that a new, smaller Dock Connector will be used in the next generation iPhone, and all iPads and iPods are to follow suit, rumor has it.
Some reports say the connector will boast 9 pins. Others say 19. Most sources, however, agree there will be 8 pins on the new plug.
The latest photos showing the alleged new hardware comes from French site Nowherelse which claims that the new connector does, indeed, use eight pins. Eight on each side, that is.
“We have obtained new information about this connector. We have indeed learned that it is not equipped with 8 to 16 pins but distinct functions or 8 on each side thereof to note that one of them would have no basis of record and would be for possible future use.”
However, the savvy blokes are iFixit say we should also be taking the metal frame into account. Which adds up to nine pins (for one side), thus confirming a recent discovery in iOS 6 beta that seems to reference a 9-pin connector.
And while the iPhone 5’s docking cable could well use 9 to 17-pins for syncing and other data-transfer stuff, it also looks as if eight of those pins could be reserved for use something else - MicroSD cards!
This speculation from 9to5mac comes accompanied a neat photo featuring a special-edition “SlotMusic” Beatles album served up on MicroSD.
The extra 8 pins could also be reserved for plugging the connector either way, as revealed by iLounge in a recent story citing trusted sources with knowledge of the hardware.