Here’s a wild rumour to sit alongside the latest chatter about the iPhone 5 launch: the cheaper iPhone we’ve been calling the iPhone 4S is coming, will have substantially less flash storage than we’re used to and will rely heavily on iCloud to do its magic. The new name being pinned to this currently mythical device? The iCloud iPhone. Yes, really.
It’s a pretty crazy idea but one we’ve explored in the past with our mock up of the iPod Cloud (which you can see above) which we suggested could use local storage tied to some clever caching algorithms. Read on for the full story on the rumour and the arguments for and against the iCloud iPhone…
The iCloud iPhone rumour originates from Trevor Sheridan at Applenapps who claims to have spoken to three independent sources “all connected to Apple in different capacities”. He sketches out a picture of the iCloud iPhone looking like a small iPad using the same internal parts as the iPhone 4 but replacing the glass back with aluminium like the iPad 2.
Sheridan points to figures from iSuppli that suggest flash memory currently makes up 15% of the cost of an iPhone 4. Cutting the amount used in the iCloud iPhone down to around 8GB (the same amount used for local storage in the current Apple TV) would help to dramatically cut the cost while providing enough memory for caching frequently used data for offline use.
In iOS 5, iCloud will back up the contents of your entire phone including apps but launching a device almost entirely reliant on that would be a major change. Not everyone lives in a place that’s well connected with Wi-Fi and 3G and that’s before you get into the question of data tariffs and how the iCloud iPhone would avoid landing you with a ginormous bill.
While the idea of the iCloud iPhone is definitely worth kicking around, this rumour seems a little bit too far fetched at the moment. Check out our original iPod Cloud feature for our ideas on how an iCloud-reliant device could work and hit the comment to let us know whether you think Apple will be bold enough to reveal an iCloud iPhone alongside the iPhone 5.
Out TBC | £TBC | Apple (via Applenapps)
