Apple rumour round-up
Apple fans may be able to unwrap a shiny new iPad complete with FaceTime-compatible cameras on Christmas morning if rumours from within the Apple camp are true.
Unofficial Apple blog, Apple Insider reported an iPad sporting a video camera for FaceTime access has reached the company's ‘advance testing stages,' according to a savvy but anonymous source.
The refreshed iPad is rumoured to be due to hit the shelves no later than the first quarter of next year, while the source reportedly said Apple had last month set its ambitious sights on slipping the tablet into stores in time for the Christmas present buying rush.
The blog goes on to say Apple is thought to have plans to integrate FaceTime into all its portable products to make it an industry standard and analysts believe the feature could boost the desirability of the already popular tablet.
According to another rumour in The China Times, Apple has already started work on its fifth generation iPhone and there may be a change of chip inside.
The newspaper believes the fabled phone will include a Qualcomm baseband chip, instead of the current Infineon offering. The rumoured move would be a break with tradition, as Infineon, which was snapped up by Intel for a cool $1.4bn in August, has supplied all the baseband chips for Apple's phone since it was first released.
According to Apple Insider, a broadband chip by Qualcomm strengthens rumours that Apple is working on a CDMA phone. The chip maker currently has a near 70 percent share of the CDMA market so would be a ‘logical choice' for Apple if it wanted to head in that direction, Andrew Gardiner, an analyst at Barclays Capital, told the blog.
