5 Rumours About The Apple iPhone 5 That Will Be True

The Apple iPhone 5 (or 5G) is said to be already in Engineering Verification Test Stage (EVT) which means that the fifth generation iPhone is only two steps from mass production with the next step being Device Verification Test stage.

With this in mind, we've rounded up the list of the rumours circulating on the web which are more likely to become true when the iPhone 5 is launched, possibly in June 2011.

1. iPhone 5 will have integrated SIM : most probably true. It was Gigaom who first came up with the story that French company, Gemalto, would team up with Apple to create a special SIM card that would allow users to buy a phone on the web and get it activated through Apple, essentially cutting out the mobile phone carriers and further reducing their roles. Why would Apple do that? Well, it removes the need to insert a SIM card altogether, makes the phone virtually unlockable (as you can't swap SIM cards) and provides it with some nifty new features. A hint? Last year, Gemalto purchased O3SIS, a company which specialised in Personal Data management Solutions, something that could be of interest to Apple.

2. iPhone 5 will have built in RFID : Very likely and the key could well be Gemalto. The company is a recognised leader in the field of Near Field Communication or NFC, which would allow users to authenticate themselves with electronic terminals by swiping their devices using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). Gemalto is already a Trusted Server Manager and has been in the RFID market for more than a decade. In addition, Apple has already filed a few patents (including one to include the circuitry in the display itself), recruited a product manager and started trials of iPhone 5 prototypes with NFC capabilities. Obviously Qualcomm, which will almost certainly provide with the baseband hardware for the iPhone 5 is also a major NFC/RFID player.