The new iPhone 5: everything you need to know – The Verge

T-Mobile stores now stocking iPhone 5-friendly nano-SIMs for those with unlocked devices

2012-10-06T15:25:32-04:00

T-Mobile store (STOCK)

We reported a few weeks ago that T-Mobile had no intention of letting the iPhone 5's smaller nano-SIM card interfere with its newly-bolstered plans to woo unlocked iPhone owners over to its network, and now we've received confirmation that the carrier's stores have begun receiving stock of the new SIM cards. Several T-Mobile stores in New York City informed us that the diminutive SIM cards were delivered today, but if you're interested in moving your iPhone 5 to T-Mobile you would do best to call your local store first: a couple of locations told us that it would take a day to add the cards to their inventory. Stock also appears to be limite …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple now taking iPhone 5 orders for in-store pickup

2012-09-25T13:01:19-04:00

iPhone 5 ad

Do Apple's three to four-week shipping estimates for the iPhone 5 have you down? It turns out you may not have to suffer through that marathon wait after all - assuming there's an Apple Store nearby, at least. As predicted by 9to5Mac, the company is now letting customers buy its latest handset each night between 10PM and 4AM PST and pick up orders as early as the very next day (technically the same day if you're ordering in the wee hours, we suppose).

How quickly you'll receive a phone will depend on each local store's stock, though with Apple bringing in daily deliveries it shouldn't be long. Again, this is a pre-purchase, not a reservatio …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple A6 processor examined, confirmed to have been produced by Samsung

2012-09-25T11:52:28-04:00

Apple A6 IFIXIT

Apple and Samsung may be in the midst of some legal battles - and smear campaigns - but that doesn't mean that the Korean company's chipmaking arm isn't still producing internals for Apple's latest devices. An in-depth look at the iPhone 5's dual-core A6 processor from iFixit and Chipworks has confirmed that it is an Apple-designed 32nm chip that was produced by Samsung. The teardown has also confirmed what was heavily suspected: that the iPhone 5 has 1GB of RAM, though on the particular unit that was analyzed the part was sourced from Elpida, not Samsung.

We assume that Samsung is producing the A6 at the same Austin, Texas plant that made …

Read the full story at The Verge.

iPhone 5 sales exceed five million after first weekend, more than 100 million devices updated to iOS 6

2012-09-24T08:46:11-04:00

iphone 5

Unsurprisingly, Apple's iPhone 5 had a massive first weekend - the company is reporting sales in excess of five million devices over the first weekend of retail availability. That comes a week after Apple announced that two million customers pre-ordered the device after it became available online on September 14th. The iPhone 4S sold four million devices over its first weekend of availability last October, so the iPhone 5 continues to be a record-setting device for Apple. However, it's worth noting that the iPhone 5 went on sale in a total of nine countries, two more than the iPhone 4S did last year. With first weekend pre-orders for the iPh …

Read the full story at The Verge.

iPhone 5 owners report scuffs and scratches out of the box

2012-09-24T05:28:06-04:00

iphone 5 scratch 1020 stock

When Apple VP Phil Schiller took the stage on September 12th to talk about the company's new iPhone 5 hardware he went on at length about the exacting level of precision that goes into its manufacture. But despite Apple's insistence that its tolerances are measured in microns, several iPhone 5 owners are reporting that their new devices are arriving with a variety of scuffs and scrapes out of the box (myself included, pictured above).

The anodized aluminum seems to scratch more easily than the stainless steel in the 4S

The company's record-breaking sales numbers certainly don't make it easy to guess at how widespread the issue is, but an inf …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Apple shows off the iPhone 5 in new commercials

2012-09-21T23:27:24-04:00

iPhone 5 ad

To accompany today's launch of the iPhone 5, Apple has posted a new series of commercials showing off the device. The three ads, which sound like they're narrated by The Newsroom's Jeff Daniels, each focus on a specific element of the new phone: its thinner profile, the panorama photo feature, and the new screen. A fourth spot, simply entitled "Ears," is devoted to the EarPod headphones.

In July, Apple debuted a suite of commercials during the London Olympics that seemed to be a marked departure from the company's usual advertising style. With their focus on the iPhone itself, these new ads appear to be a return to the "product as hero" str …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Confirmed: Verizon iPhone 5 is unlocked, can be used freely on GSM networks (updated)

2012-09-21T15:39:55-04:00

iPhone 5 Verizon/AT&T SIM switch

New owners of the Verizon iPhone 5 are being met with an unexpected but welcome surprise today: the device comes fully unlocked out of the box. That will come as great news for customers that travel overseas and it even allows you to insert an AT&T nano-SIM if the desire strikes you. We've been able to confirm that the Verizon iPhone 5 is fully compatible with AT&T's 3G network - though differing LTE bands will prevent you from achieving high-speed connectivity. You should also be able to hop on T-Mobile's 3G network in areas where the carrier has refarmed its spectrum, though we've yet to test this firsthand. We've reached out to Verizon fo …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Thousands queue in the dark as the iPhone 5 goes on sale

2012-09-21T05:10:55-04:00

Billy Hime iphone 5 line

Thousands of people across the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK have started lining up for Apple's iPhone 5. The queues, with some people camping out for days, mark the beginning of Apple's latest global rollout. After more than two million pre-orders within the first 24 hours of availability and record breaking AT&T sales, the iPhone 5 has continued a trend of consumer excitement for Cupertino's smartphone.

Year on year, countless numbers of Apple fans queue for hours at a time - often in the dark - to be one of the first to experience the latest must have gadget. This year is no different, des …

Read the full story at The Verge.

iPhone 5 taken apart in detailed iFixit teardown

2012-09-21T02:22:19-04:00

iphone 5 teardown (ifixit)

Just as we figuratively broke the iPhone 5 open in our exhaustive review, the folk at iFixit have begun to do so for real. Their teardown of Apple's latest and greatest reveals exactly how easy the device will be to repair (with this being a particular source of controversy for previous Apple products) as well as revealing the source of certain components.

'It may be the most repairable iPhone we've seen in a while.'

The iPhone 5 appears to do well on the repairability front - iFixit says that it "may be the most repairable iPhone we've seen in a while." The phone is easily opened from front-to-back with a suction cup, meaning that the glass …

Read the full story at The Verge.

iPhone 5 review

2012-09-21T00:30:13-04:00

iPhone 5 main

Ah, to review the iPhone 5; what a blessing, and what a curse. It's actually funny to think that there was a time not that long ago that the iPhone wasn't even a thing, let alone an iconic part of pop culture. A time when an Apple-made phone was just a fantasy; a blogger's fever-dream; a secret glimmer in the eye of Steve Jobs and his team of engineers and designers.

But the iPhone has become very real. In fact, it's grown up, moved out, and taken over the world. Well, half the world anyhow. These days the iPhone isn't just components on a breadboard in a lab in Cupertino, it's the device by which all others are measured. And that makes for …

Read the full story at The Verge.