Is Apple iPhone 5 Arriving Even Late Due to A5 Chip Overheating?

When will the next generation of Apple iPhone - iPhone 5 - be launched? Well, there have been a lot of speculations regarding that and many others are surfacing every other day. A recent job posting on Reed, which was first spotted by CNET UK, has indicated a mid-August launch for the highly expected iPhone 5 smartphone. The job posting asked for full-time iPhone Sales Staff for an exciting project to work 5 days a week (Tuesday-Saturday) for the period August 16 to October 29 within key retail stores.

However, the Chinese website Sohu.com has a different story to tell. As per the site, Apple has been delaying the launch of iPhone 5 due to the A5 chip overheating and not for Japan tsunami or the Verizon iPhone release. This was the reason Apple postponed the next iPhone launch from June-July to the late August-early September timeframe. According to the report, Apple's silicon team finds it difficult to keep the dual-core A5 chip cool in the iPhone's small chassis, 9to5Mac reported.

The Chinese website also said that with the A6 chip, which is apparently due next year, Apple will be transitioning to a 28-nanometer manufacturing process. The dual-core A5 chip, which is found in iPad 2, is manufactured on Samsung's 45-nanometer process, and is almost twice the size of the A4 processor found in iPhone 4.

The new A5 chip measures 10.1 x 12.1 millimeter compared to 7.3 x 7.3 millimeter for the A4 chip. According to Chipworks' chip experts, more space is needed on the A5 chip for an additional processing core and enhanced graphics.

The report also speculates that iPhone fans will be kept busy by the upcoming iPhone 4S, an upgrade from iPhone 4, until Apple's engineers figure out a solution to the overheating problem. The story mentioned some insiders who repeated many of the specs of the iPhone 4S that have been rumored for quite some time. Some of those specs are: an 8 megapixel camera, a Gorilla glass display, a dual-core chip and 4G network support.

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The Overheating problem, what could it mean for iPhone 5?

The iPhone 5 News Blog has given a detailed analysis of the overheating problem. According to the analysis, heat issues generally occur due to smaller chassis and/or bigger battery. But there are possibilities that because of some strong new feature, the A5 chip is working its tail off as well. As new hardware drives a battery harder and hotter, the same can be the case with chip also, the iPhone 5 News Blog report.

Does the bigger chip and bigger plus hotter battery suggest 4G?

Since a 4G radio requires a lot of energy to run, the report speculates that overheating in the early iPhone 5 samples could have been a result of a better, beefier battery pack pushing a 4G radio.

If the overheating issue is to be believed, the upcoming iPhone 5 is not likely to be a mere simple refresh of the iPhone 4. Other than iOS 5 and the A5 chip, if iPhone 5 brings little updates to iPhone 4, then why all the heat is getting generated?

Indications are strong that Apple iPhone 5 would have to have new features, not being a minor update.

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