Apple is preparing to launch a new, less expensive iPhone 4 model that will become available at the end of September alongside the iPhone 5, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Citing multiple anonymous sources, the news organization says that the retooled iPhone 4 will feature a smaller 8GB flash drive manufactured by an unnamed South Korean company. Apple has sourced flash drives for its current iPhone models from Toshiba and Samsung. Reuters also contradicts recent reports that the iPhone 5 will launch in early October, writing instead that Apple is “targeting an end-September launch for the next-generation iPhone 5.” The report restates numerous others that claim the iPhone 5 will feature a larger display, a new antenna design and an 8-megapixel camera.

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HTC’s 10-inch Puccini Android tablet will hit the market in September or October, HTC’s chief financial officer Winston Yung said during a press conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange. We published the first solid images of the Puccini in July when we noted the tablet will likely offer a 1.5GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera and stylus input support similar to what the HTC Flyer offers. While earlier rumors suggested the Puccini would launch on AT&T with 4G LTE support, we think the September/October time frame might be too early for that to happen. We expect the Puccini to run on AT&T’s HSPA+ network instead. Yung also reaffirmed HTC’s plans to appeal a recent ITC ruling that found HTC guilty of infringing on Apple patents.

[Via DigiTimes]

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Apple has placed orders with its manufacturing partners for as many as 26 million iPhone 5 handsets in the second half of 2011 as it prepares for a massive launch this fall. In addition to Apple’s iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 models, this could bring the vendor’s second-half iPhone shipments up to 56 million units, DigiTimes reported on Monday. Tack that massive figure onto the 18.65 million iPhones Apple shipped in the fiscal second quarter and the 20.34 million units shipped in the fiscal third quarter, and Apple could potentially ship just under 100 million iPhone handsets this year. Apple is expected to unveil at least one new iPhone model in the coming weeks, which will then go on sale in late September or early October.

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We have heard at least a dozen rumors that Apple will launch the next iPhone in September, possibly alongside the next-generation iPad. Several of those rumors have suggested Apple will announce a new iPhone 5 and an iPad 3 with a Retina Display, while others have predicted the Cupertino-based company will simply announce the iPhone 4S, a marginal upgrade from the current model. The latest rumor from Macotakara.jp says that Apple will begin production of the iPhone 4S in September and will bring it to market in October along with the iPad 3. The iPhone part of this rumor corresponds with an earlier report from TiPb in terms of release timing, though that report also claimed that the iPad 3 won’t launch until next year. Macotakara.jp mentions the iPhone 5 briefly but says it has “not found any information” about the device. BGR reported that the iPhone 5 will land in mid-September and several reports indicate that mid to late-September is still the likely launch time frame.

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Apple plans to hold this year’s “iPod media event” on September 7th, Japanese-language news site Kodawarisan reported on Friday. The company’s September event has historically been dedicated to the iPod line, with Apple having unveiled its latest iPod touch, iPod shuffle and iPod nano models at last year’s event. With a new iPhone model due to be released in September or October, however, it seems very likely that Apple will use its annual September media event to unveil the iPhone 5 rather than just refreshed iPods. The spotlight has moved off of Apple’s iPod lineup over the past few years — Apple even removed its “iPod” branding from the Music app in iOS 5 — so it seems highly unlikely that the company’s line of media players will continue to warrant a dedicated event. Apple is also expected to launch the new iPad 3 in the near future, though a recent round of rumors suggest that might not happen until late November or even early 2012.

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Microsoft will begin rolling out Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” to last year’s Windows Phone lineup beginning September 1st, Pocket-lint reports. The British tech blog cites multiple trusted sources with its report, and it says September 1st will also mark the start of device announcements touting Microsoft’s Mango OS. The date just one day ahead of this year’s IFA trade show in Berlin, where Pocket-lint says Microsoft may have Windows Phone 7.5-powered devices on display alongside manufacturers like Samsung ZTE and LG. Nokia is not expected to unveil its first Windows Phone until its annual Nokia World event in October. Microsoft’s Joe Belfore addressed the rumor without confirming or denying it early Friday morning, saying only that it is, in fact, a rumor.

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Intel will invest $300 million during the next three to four years in an effort to speed up the development of its new “Ultrabook” category of laptops, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Intel will provide its hardware and software partners with funding and hopes that the cash will be enough for its partners to develop Ultrabooks that can last a full day on a single charge. “The Intel Capital Ultrabook fund will focus on investing in companies building technologies that will help revolutionize the computing experience and morph today’s mobile computers into the next ‘must have’ device,” Intel Capital Corp. executive vice president Arvind Sodhani told Bloomberg. Intel began discussing the new Ultrabook category during the Computex trade show in March. It hopes the computers will grab 40% of the consumer laptop market by the end of next year and says the devices will combine the performance of today’s laptops with a tablet-like experience in a thin and light product. Recent reports have suggested that Acer, ASUS, Dell, Lenovo and HP will begin mass producing Ultrabooks in September and ASUS’ UX21 is expected to be the first model to hit the market.

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Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron will begin shipping the iPhone 5 in September, DigiTimes reported on Wednesday. Pegatron will join Foxconn as a manufacturer for the phone and has secured an order for 10 million units, according to the report. In July, Taiwan Economic News also reported that Pegatron had inked a deal with Apple to manufacture the iPad 3, although that device may be delayed due to component shortages. The most recent rumors around the iPhone 5 speculate that the update is bigger than initially expected and the phone will be thinner, lighter and more powerful. Early rumors had suggested that Apple was launching an “iPhone 4S” that would offer a minor update to the current iPhone 4 model.

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We know we don’t have long to wait before Samsung’s wildly popular Galaxy S II smartphone launches stateside. It’s also a pretty safe bet that the sleek smartphone will reach all four major U.S. carriers considering how popular the original Galaxy S was. Additional details have been slow to surface, but we’ve just been given some preliminary details about one of the four U.S. variants we’ve been waiting for. BGR has learned that Sprint’s version of the slim smartphone will launch as the Samsung Epic Touch 4G. Like its predecessor, the Epic Touch 4G will feature 4G WiMAX connectivity, though as its moniker might suggest, it will lack the QWERTY keyboard found on the original Epic 4G. Additional specs are hardly a mystery — we reviewed the international version of the Galaxy S II back in May. And while we have yet to track down a specific release date for this cutting edge Gingerbread phone, our source did say that it is launching in September. Also of note: Sprint will launch both the BlackBerry Curve 9350 (Sedona) and the Samsung Conquer 4G later this month, possibly as soon as August 21st.

HTC, Samsung and LG are poised to launch new Windows Phone Mango devices in September, DigiTimes reported on Friday. HTC’s handsets will be equipped with displays sized between 3.8-inches and 4.7-inches and will be powered by Qualcomm CPUs clocked at 1.5GHz. We’re expecting at least two of HTC’s new phones to be the Ignite and the Prime, which leaked again yesterday. Suppliers also indicated that Nokia will launch its first Windows Phone Mango devices during its annual Nokia World conference in October. Acer, Fujitsu-Toshiba and ZTE are also preparing to launch new phones in the coming months although it is unclear when those devices will hit the market. Microsoft announced on Wednesday that the final Windows Phone Mango build had been released to vendors.

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Following our exclusive report from Thursday suggesting Apple plans to release iTunes 11 in September alongside the iOS 5 and iCloud, a new report claims iTunes 11 will feature a redesigned layout and deep iCloud integration. IDownloadBlog on Friday cites a reliable source in stating that the next major release of iTunes will be “revamped from the ground up.” The report claims Apple’s new version of iTunes will feature a brand new user interface as well as iCloud integration. Mobile device app data and backups will also reportedly be integrated with iTunes 11, effectively mirroring iOS device backups and app data/settings that are automatically synced to iCloud. Apple has made major investments in its iCloud service, including the billion-dollar data center it built in North Carolina, so it would certainly be a logical move to showcase the service right out of the gate when it launches this fall.

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We haven’t seen the HTC Ignite or Prime since March, but a new leak from cell phone retailer The Phone House suggests that HTC is planning to launch both handsets in the near future. The phones will pack Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, presumably the Mango release, but it is unclear when they will hit the market. If we were betting men we would wager that both handsets will launch in the early fall, when Microsoft has said it will deploy Mango to existing handsets. Earlier this week, the Redmond-based company announced that it has already released the operating system update to manufacturers, so we’re expecting to see a number of new Windows Phone leaks to start cropping up.

Thanks, Andrew

[Via Tweakers.net]

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Microsoft confirmed on its Windows Team Blog on Monday that it has released the RTM build of Windows Phone “Mango” to manufacturing partners. “This marks the point in the development process where we hand code to our handset and mobile operator partners to optimize Mango for their specific phone and network configurations,” explained Microsoft’s Windows Phone corporate vice president Terry Myerson. Microsoft has said Mango will deliver more than 500 new features to the Windows Phone platform, including Internet Explorer 9 and deeper social network integration, and we expect to see the release hit current devices in August. In addition, new phones from Microsoft’s partners, which include Nokia, HTC, LG, Samsung, Dell, Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE, are expected to be unveiled as early as September.

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Taiwan-based TPK Holdings Ltd. has been awarded a contract from Apple to supply between 70% and 80% of the touch panels for its upcoming fifth-generation iPhone, Taiwan Economic News reports. Referring to the next-generation smartphone as the “iPhone 4S,” the publication cites unnamed industry insiders with the report. TPK holdings is currently the world’s largest touch panel maker by volume, and is said to be the only manufacturer able to meet Apple’s steep quantity demands while maintaining consistent quality. TPK Holdings is already Apple’s top touch panel supplier and the unparalleled quality of Apple’s current touch experience makes the retention of its current No. 1 supplier a logical move. The Taiwan-based component manufacturer also supplies touch panels to HTC, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, among others. Apple is expected to launch its fifth-generation iPhone handset this fall.

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Verizon Wireless will drop the price on all of its iPhone 4 accessories in anticipation of the iPhone 5 launch, PhoneArena is reporting. Verizon Wireless is expected to continue selling the iPhone 4 at a lower price point after its successor launches, however, so it is unlikely that the carrier will completely clear house of its accessories. If this report is accurate, the move could suggest Apple has a redesigned iPhone up its sleeves instead of a phone with the same industrial design and newer hardware inside. That’s in line with our exclusive report that the Cupertino-based firm will release a successor with a “radical new case design,” and another report from The Wall Street Journal claiming the phone will be thinner and lighter than its predecessor. Apple is expected to unveil the phone in late-August or in September.

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