Best Buy anticipating iPhone 5 for Sprint, preorders starting next month

Thanks to a leaked document from a Best Buy source, we have discovered that Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores are anticipating taking preorders for the iPhone 5 starting in the first week of October. What’s a tad bit more interesting, however, is the mention (and further anticipation) that Sprint will be carrying the iPhone 5 at launch. Best Buy makes sure to note that Apple product introduction and launch dates are subject to change, but a preorder date changing is pretty different from a new carrier getting a phone for the first time.

UPDATE: Our source clarified that it’s actually possible presales will be starting this week with the phone arriving in the first week of October, not preorders starting in October.

Thanks, Tee!

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German-language Focus.de is reporting (Google translation) that T-Mobile customers in the country are now allowed to reserve Apple’s unreleased handset, the iPhone 5. 9to5Mac has also received several tips from our readers confirming that the Deutsche Telekom-owned wireless operators has in fact begun issuing so-called Premieren Ticket, basically support tickets – one per customer – for early adopters and informed buyers who couldn’t be otherwise convinced into buying the existing iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS.

Those coupons will eventually let folks claim their handset, when it arrives, on a first-come-first-served basis. Only the carrier’s customers are eligible and only upon contacting sales representatives in one of the carrier-owned brick-and-mortar stores or by calling customer support. As you could imagine, Deutsche Telekom is pretty low-key about the initiative and thus shuns from advertising it apart from a rather cryptic hint on their website. Shortly after the report was published, Bloomberg was able to verify it with a company spokesperson, who said:

Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) will allow customers to reserve the next generation of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone as of today in anticipation of supply bottlenecks for the device, spokesman Alexander von Schmettow said by phone. The operator will hand out coupons to people who expressly request the successor model to the iPhone 4, without providing the name or release details of the device, he said.

Hints have been multiplying since last week that Apple could be close to unveiling a fifth-generation iPhone. Apple store employees have received their iOS 5 and iCloud training material and internal Best Buy documents have pointed to a Sprint iPhone 5 launch in the first week of October. Both nuggets confirm 9to5Mac’s discovery from July that Sprint would get iPhone 5, based on an April job posting seeking cellular engineers in the Kansas City region, right in the neighborhood of Sprint’s headquarters. 9to5Mac also originally broke the news that Apple would begin accepting iPhone 5 pre-orders in early September, gearing up for an early October launch. Also…

…This past Saturday, Japanese blog Macotakara wrote (Google translation) that contract manufacturers Pegatron Technology and Foxconn have begun assembling iPhone 5 at a rate of 85 percent and 15 percent, respectively. The blog notes that the units are not yet being packaged in boxes until Apple iOS 5 is ready for prime time. With so much clues out in the open, it’s safe to assume that invites for an Apple media event are ready and that it is now up to Apple’s marketing and CEO Tim Cook to hit the Launch button.

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What will the iPhone 5 look like? We’ve read plenty of reports that the iPhone 5 will offer a larger display and a thinner design, and we have seen leaked silicone cases that seem to back those reports up. The latest leak also reinforces earlier suggestions that the iPhone 5 will also have a larger home button. Ukwire.hk released images of a new screen protector that shows a wider home button below the iPhone 5 display. In a second image, included after the break, an iPhone 4 is placed face-down on top of the screen protector to illustrate the potential size difference between the two devices. Apple is widely expected to launch the iPhone 5 next month.

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AllThingsD, which seems to have a bead on Apple’s Fall Event, says the event will be held on Apple’s campus.

Sources close to the company say the demonstration — currently scheduled for Tuesday October 4 — will be held at Apple’s campus in Cupertino, California. Why? That’s not entirely clear. Perhaps the release date was too much of a moving target to risk booking a large space like Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), which has hosted a number of big product unveils in the past.

OracleWorld is happening in the Moscone/Yerba Buena area during the October 4th announcement so that could be a reason for the move. Though Yerba Buena, the usual venue for such announcements, isn’t marked as booked.

Also, Apple has much more control over the wireless access at its campus auditorium, something that had caused some issues during the iPhone 4 announcement. With all of the wireless devices in the audience, Steve Jobs had trouble demonstrating things like FaceTime and the improved speed of the iPhone 4.

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Here’s our roundup for Tuesday’s Apple event and what we’re expecting.

Let’s talk iPhone: Even though there is no concrete evidence for an iPhone redesign, many are still speculating (we call you ’5ers’!) and reporting that one is coming at this event. Because of lack of evidence for a redesign, we believe that Apple will introduce only an iPhone 4S on Tuesday. Here’s what we know:

iPhone 4S (N94) shows up in iTunes with the design of the CDMA iPhone 4. This points to the iPhone 4S gaining the Verizon iPhone 4 antenna – which makes sense for a global GSM/CDMA device. After all, the Verizon iPhone packs the dual-mode Qualcomm Gobi chip.
This N94 device shows up in Apple’s inventory system for an imminent launch in 3 different configurations.
The devices floating around Apple HQ that are running Assistant look like iPhone 4s.
N94 turns up various times in iOS SDK
N94 device with iPhone 4 design tested on T-Mobile
Our own manufacturing-based sources say no teardrop iPhones are currently being produced or prepared for production
As far back as April, Game developers seeded N94 device with A5 processor and N94 design
Evidence for an iPhone redesign coming this Tuesday:


Cases that fit teardrop design
. While case-makers have gone full steam ahead in baking different sized tear drop cases, we think Apple either punk’d them or they got designs of a 2012 device that is at least a few months out.

iPhone 5 specifications (4 inch display, 4G) which showed up in unconfirmed screenshots taken on Cincinnati Bell’s (who?) website. Carriers (especially unheard of ones) have no information about Apple’s upcoming handsets. That includes its screen size and name, though there are no shortage of carriers calling it an ‘iPhone 5′. *
As you can clearly see, the evidence for an iPhone redesign is super slim: no SDK references, no iTunes references, no hints of such a phone being in production, no sources spotting such devices. Nothing. If Apple pulls an iPhone 5 redesign out on Tuesday, it will be a major and almost unheard of surprise.

So what are we expecting?

iPhone 4S (N94):

iPhone 4 design
Breakthrough Assistant voice navigation feature. Indeed “Let’s Talk iPhone” seems to point to voice features.
A5 processor with better graphics from iPad 2
Eight megapixel camera from Sony and/or Omnivision with backlit sensor. We also caught Sony CEO Howard Stringer talking about shipping 8MP cameras to Apple.
Nuance speech-to-text
1GB of RAM which is needed for Assistant
16, 32, 64GB of storage likely…at least 3 different tiers.
Cheaper iPhone 4 (N90A):

iPhone 4 design
8GB of storage
Lower price point. Free on some plans in many countries
Perhaps lower quality parts (screen, battery, etc) more like an iPod touch to keep prices low.
Some are calling the iPhone 4S (N94) the cheaper iPhone. This is unlikely because of the N90A’s existence in both the Apple inventory system and Foxconn Brazil.

Let’s talk iPods:

White iPod touch: we brought the first evidence of such a device with photos of the actual OEM front plate. The device’s launch has since been confirmed internally and via Apple’s inventory system.
A minor iPod nano revision (N20A) has been called for by MacRumors. We’ve seen cameras in the past but aren’t expecting this. Also we’ve speculated about Bluetooth making a connected device but have absolutely no evidence to back this up.
There were also sketchy reports that the iPod Classic and Shuffle will soon be discontinued. We’ve heard that iPod Classics continue to be shipped from Apple’s supply centers including orders that are to be delivered after the event so this is likely untrue.
We’ve also heard the 8GB iPod Touch will see a price cut perhaps to surpass the newly introduced $199 Amazon Kindle Fire for Christmas shopping season. (Thanks, Mr. X!).
Other interesting tidbits:

Apple may be set to release at least one of their new products on October 4th. We’ve heard uncorroborated – but reliable – whispers that Apple has sent boxes of product with a “do not open until Oct. 4th” sign to Apple retail stores
We’ve also heard uncorroborated whispers of Apple opening retail stores at 7AM for the October 14th launch of the iPhone 4S. This will be preceded by a major Apple retail overnight/visuals shift on October 13th. Some stores may even be open until midnight.
* On that note, TUAW – who posted on these unconfirmed screenshots – is somehow claiming we made up our story about iPhone 4S references appearing in iTunes. This is according to their sources ‘who examined iTunes Betas’ –The same Betas that I (in addition to several others) independently located the references in. We’re not sure what to say.

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