Just a beefed up iPhone 4, or the iPhone 5?
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As is always the case with the release of a new iPhone, there’s plenty of rumors regarding the upcoming iPhone 5. One of this year’s most prominent rumors is that the smartphone will benefit from the addition of the A5 chip that currently appears in the iPad 2.
The dual-core A5 processor is significantly more powerful than Apple’s A4 chip, and Apple is apparently helping prepare high level game developers prepare for the iPhone 5’s arrival by sending them each a beefed up iPhone 4 to work on. This information comes via a source over at 9to5Mac that calls the rigged out iPhone 4 ‘the iPhone 4S.’ The device is said to be “virtually identical†to the current iPhone 4 and an outsider wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two. The source says the device is locked in a safe at night.
Recent rumors regarding the iPhone 5 stated the phone would employ the same design as the iPhone 4, adding only improvements to the antenna. However, under the hood, the device would use Apple’s dual-core A5 CPU and also boast an 8-megapixel camera. It’s not yet clear if the devices sent to devs really are just beefed up iPhone 4 units that have been nicknamed the iPhone 4S, or if the iPhone 4S these companies are playing with really is the next generation iPhone. 9to5Mac reports that the OS on these devices is iOS 4, not the iOS 5 that the new iPhone is said to be shipping with.
