Apple will not introduce a new iPhone 5, at their Worldwide Developers Conference unlike 2008 and 2010 when Apple introduced new hardware.Speculation has it that Apple is suffering from “tight” supply of lithium ion batteries and is rethinking new hardware announcements following the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
According to Apple the WWDC is going to be all about the future of iOS and OS X.
An Apple executive is said to have recently contacted the US offices of Kureha, a Japanese company which controls 70 percent of the market share for a polymer called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), used as a binder in lithium ion batteries. The only Kureha factory which produces PVDF is based in Iwaki, and was forced to shut down on March 11th after being hit by that day’s 9.0 earthquake.
Insiders are now tipping that Apple will launch several new products in the September/October timeframe including a new iPhone and iPad.
Industry watchers had previously speculated that Apple would maybe introduce the iPhone 5 at the WWDC, following its established pattern of new hardware releases.
“You get caught up in patterns, and it holds true, until it doesn’t,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told The Loop.
“There is no reason for Apple to follow a predictable yearly pattern, and it keeps their competition off guard a little bit”.
