Hasta La Gadget!

Apple has reportedly slashed its iPhone 5 orders, with unexpectedly weak demand for the latest smartphone rumored to be behind the component order cuts. Deals with suppliers for displays have been chopped to roughly half of the initial plans, sources tell the WSJ, and other – unspecified – reductions have supposedly been made elsewhere in the supply chain. The leak is apparently corroborated by a separate report from Japan’s Nikkei.

Apple is said to have notified its suppliers of the changes in order scale last month, though unsurprisingly none of the companies involved are speaking on the record. However, there are concerns that the knock-on effect to display suppliers – particularly Sharp, which has been struggling in recent months – could be significant, with the iPhone 5′s 4-inch screen seeing little demand beyond Apple’s own requirements.

According to the Nikkei, Apple had planned on using 65 million display panels spread across Sharp and Japan Display. That number has been halved, though it’s unclear if LG Display – the third supplier involved – has also been impacted.

Nonetheless, with a shortage of specifics on Apple’s new sales predictions, it’s worth taking these rumors with a heaped fistful of salt. Divining product success from supply chain whispers is a long-standing tradition for analysts examining Apple, and the results aren’t always accurate.

Apple is expected to reveal its sales figures for the iPhone later in January 2013, though more recent launches have ostensibly been a success. The company sold 2m handsets in the first weekend of availability in China – though amid suggestions that heavy subsidies were the key to that success – while sales in Russia amounted to 20,000 in the opening weekend.

Apple reportedly slashes iPhone 5 component orders amid “weak demand” is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As Sony, Apple and others well know, it’s hard to slip a phone into the marketplace without leaks, considering the many, many points on the supply chain where Mr. Blurrycam can spot it. This time, Rapid Berry allegedly espied promotional photos that look like they came directly from the source, hitting all the Blackberry 10 marketing points like the upcoming Z10 handset in black and white, BBM Video with Screenshare, the new BB keyboard and the so-called Time Shift Camera. While we’ve seen much of this before, these are among the first press-type pics we’ve seen straight from RIM — and tie up the imminent Blackberry 10 future with a pretty bow, if real. Go to the source to see the entire series.

Update: Rapid Berry’s also found a short video showing BBM Video in action at the coverage link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, RIM

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Via: Phone Arena

Source: Rapid Berry

The Google Nexus 7 kind of turned the tablet market on its head by offering a reasonably powerful slate for only a fraction of the cost of other tablets. Unsurprisingly, we’ve been hearing rumors that other manufacturers will follow Google‘s lead in 2013, offering their own inexpensive tablets to try to win over the budget crowd. One company rumored to be launching a wallet-friendly sometime in the future is Acer, with its Iconia Tab B1.

We’ve heard nothing official come from Acer, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been leaks. This latest leak comes from Bulgarian site Tablet.bg, which apparently managed to spend some up close and personal time with the rumored tablet. Along with these images come a list of specs, and from the sound of things, it seems that the Iconia Tab B1 will still be relatively powerful despite its expected $99 price point.

With the Iconia B1, we’ll supposedly have a MediaTek dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and 8GB of internal storage. Group those with a 7-inch screen displaying at 1026 x 600 resolution, and it’s immediately clear that this isn’t going to be the most powerful tablet under the sun. It’ll be far from it, in fact, but that’s okay if it comes with a price tag of $99 – people who aren’t looking to spend an arm and a leg on a tablet don’t need the absolute best hardware, they just need a tablet that has hardware powerful enough to get the job done. It sounds like that could be the Iconia B1.

For now, we wait. We’re not sure if Acer is planning to launch this in the US, but we wouldn’t be too surprised to see something similar eventually. Perhaps we’ll get to take a gander at CES 2013 next week? We’ll find out soon enough, so keep it here at SlashGear for all of your CES 2013 news!

[via Android Community]

Acer Iconia Tab B1 pops up again in new images is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Fujifilm may have more than a few treats in store for shutterbugs this year. Details and photos have emerged that supposedly reveal the X20 and X100s, direct sequels to the company’s well-known X10 and X100 cameras. Both semi-pro bodies could resemble their ancestors on the outside, based on Digicam-info‘s images, but reportedly tackle the autofocusing performance issues that have dogged the X-series up to the X-Pro1. Photo Rumors hears the two shooters will switch to a newer, faster hybrid (both contrast and phase detection) focusing system that also includes Sony NEX-style manual focus peaking, which provides a rough visual guide as to when a subject is as sharp as possible. A few model-specific upgrades may also be in store: the X20 might get a new X-Trans sensor, while the X100s could add a much sharper 2.4-megapixel OLED viewfinder (up from 1.4 megapixels) and a Digital Split Image feature that could once more help with focusing. Launch plans aren’t part of the leak, although we may not have to wait long to hear about them. There’s a prominent X-series banner at the CES 2013 venue, which hints that we may learn about the X20 and X100s as early as next week.

Filed under: Cameras

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Source: Digicam Info (translated), Photo Rumors

A photo has been leaked today of the next-generation RIM-made BlackBerry 10 device by the name of BlackBerry Z10, a machine that’s set to run an all-touch version of the mobile software coming out later this month. These handsets are said by the source to be in testing mode and that one is being carried by Verizon (scope the branding in the upper left) and the other is being carried by AT&T.

The source is a device tester (not from the press, we must assume) who has provided the image to Business Inside who also quote him listing a selection of features from the phone. This machine looks to be appearing on either carrier with essentially the same size and shape, this ringing true with our prediction that we’re going to see a lot more Hero Device strategy in 2013 – read our Android Predictions for 2013 as well for some spooky similarities.

“• The build quality is really nice. The back cover feels rubbery and snaps on sort of like the back cover on Samsung’s Galaxy S III.
• The screen looks great.
• The web browser is very quick, just as fast as a desktop browser. It also supports Flash.
• You can set up separate profiles for work and personal use. This is good for people who want to use one phone for business and play.
• It integrates with Evernote.
• The new AppWorld store looks a lot like the Google Play store for Android apps.
• It only takes one minute to boot up.” – Anon

The source above appears to confirm several points that we’d heard from other sources in the past, including Evernote integration and that the build quality of the phone itself is rather high. We’re of course looking forward to there being a removable battery (as all good action-based phones should have) as well as a build quality that’s just as great as past BlackBerry devices – or better.

These machines will be revealed later this month at the BlackBerry event on the 30th, we’ll be there right in the front row for those of you getting pumped up for the big BlackBerry 10 launch and RIM’s next era! Let us know what you expect to see!

BlackBerry Z10 leaks for Verizon and AT&T is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.