Reuters reports that Apple is now considering a number of options to revitalize its iPhone brand over the course of this year and next. Sources close to the company are saying that Apple may release a bigger iPhone, a cheaper iPhone and iPhones in many colors. All of these options would be made solely to combat Samsung and other Android competitors that are becoming increasingly popular thanks to multiple screen sizes and designs.

Getting into specifics, it appears that Apple is looking at two bigger iPhones – one with a 4.7-inch screen and another with a 5.7-inch screen. It seems that the company can’t make up its mind, however, and many not even release either of the larger iPhones. If the larger iPhone is real, we likely won’t see it until next year.

As for a cheap iPhone, the company is looking at a $99 price tag. The new report matches up with a previous report that said the cheaper iPhone would come in a plastic chassis and be offered in multiple colors. Unlike the larger screen sizes, the cheaper iPhone seems to be a definite thing. The only potential issue is that Apple may push back its release to next year.

I may have used the word “revitalize” to describe Apple’s plans with the iPhone, but that doesn’t mean the company really needs to change anything. Apple would still sell millions of iPhones if it kept up the status quo. Apple has been doing that for years now, however, and its reveal of iOS 7 earlier this week shows that the company is starting to rethink its flagship device. I would be surprised to see Apple release a drastically different iOS without a drastically different iPhone to go along with it. We probably won’t see that drastically different design with this year’s iPhone 5S, but next year might prove to be very interesting for the iPhone.

Anonymous sources speaking to The Japan Times say that Nintendo is working on conversion software that would help smartphone developers easily port their titles to the Wii U. The push is part of a larger focus on getting more software on the system to help boost console sales.

If true, the push for smartphone titles falls into line with Nintendo’s recent initiative to get indies on its platform. It can’t readily rely on traditional game publishers to provide a steady stream of games for the system so it has to rely on these indies to bring a number of unique experiences to the console.

Such a move begs the question – will people buy a Wii U to play games that they can already play on a smartphone or tablet? Nintendo apparently thinks they will. It’s a sharp change of course for the company as it has previously derided smartphone games as devaluing games.

Software certainly sells hardware, but will smartphone games do the trick? Maybe not, but Nintendo also has a strong first-party lineup of software coming out later this year. There’s even talk of a new 3D Mario game coming out in October. Such a release, combined with Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD and others, could potentially see Nintendo selling more than its fair share of units this holiday season.

Of course, Nintendo will have to watch out for the likes of Sony, and possibly even Microsoft, as both will be appealing to indies as well. Sony has been especially aggressive in this area, and even chose to highlight an indie game at its PS4 reveal event. Nintendo may have to start getting that aggressive about indie titles if it wants to bring the best the indie development scene has to offer to the Wii U.

[h/t: ZDNet]

Brian White, analyst for Topeka Capital Markets, said that Apple will release the iPhone 5S with three separate screen sizes. He reportedly got his information from a company in Apple’s supply chain.

“We believe Apple is coming around to the fact that one size per iPhone release does not work for everyone and offering consumers an option has the potential to expand the company’s market share,” White said.

This isn’t the first time that White has predicted the iPhone 5S will come in multiple screen sizes. He said the same thing back in January, while adding that Apple would be using Sharp’s new IGZO display panels for the larger screens. He also said that the iPhone 5S would be offered in more colors than just the traditional black and white.

White also addressed the persistent rumor that Apple will be releasing a cheaper iPhone this year for the Chinese market. Some rumors suggested that Apple would go as low as $99 for the cheaper device, but White says that Apple can’t possibly go below $300 without a subsidy. The reason being that Apple never sells at a loss or at cost. Even if it’s cheaper, Apple has to make a tidy profit on every iPhone sold to keep investors happy.

All of this is speculation for now, but we may find out more about the mythical iPhone 5S sooner rather than later. The latest rumors peg the iPhone 5S release date for June. If that’s the case, we could see a reveal in late May/early June.

[h/t: Apple Insider]

Paul Thurrot revealed during the latest “What the Tech?!” podcast that Microsoft would be unveiling its next Xbox on May 21. The Verge was able to confirm the date with sources close to Microsoft saying that the event was originally schedule for April, but was pushed back to May for an unknown reason.

There wasn’t much more information revealed about the console, but Thurrot did throw out one interesting tidbit – the price. He claims that the next Xbox will retail for $500, but will only cost $300 if the consumer chooses to go with a subscription service. A subscription model would be nothing new for the company as it already offers the Xbox 360 for $99 with a two-year contract that has the consumer paying a monthly fee for Xbox Live.

Interestingly enough, Thurrot also says that the internal Microsoft documentation he has mentions the always online requirement that stirred up quite a bit of controversy last week.

As for the event itself, The Verge’s report says that Microsoft will be holding a small event in May to officially unveil the console and a few of its core features. The company will be saving most of its big announcements, however, for E3 in June.

[h/t: NBC News]

AppleInsider reports that the iPhone 5S release date is set for sometime in August. It’s claimed that the cheaper iPhone will be out in August as well. It would be a first to have two iPhones released in the same year, let alone the same month.

The iPhone 5S is reportedly being marketed as a world phone. In short, the device will work on any network in any market without any significant internal modifications. If Apple could get enough supply built in time, we could see a same day global launch. That would be a big deal for Apple as past iPhone releases were tiered over several months as it built iPhones specifically for each market’s wireless networks.

Speaking of China, the rumored cheaper iPhone will reportedly be built to work on China Mobile’s LTE. That furthers the rumors that this cheaper iPhone is being built specifically for the Chinese market. It’s not known if Apple will release its cheaper iPhone in other emerging markets, like South America and India.

So, now we have a release date, but what about the price? The cheaper iPhone was originally reported to cost as little as $99, but the new rumor pegs its unsubsidized price at $330. The low price is the result of Apple building the device out of polycarbonate. The company may also be using last generation components to keep prices low.

The China Economic News Service, a Taiwanese business publication issued a report stating that Foxconn, the famed manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone devices, has created a new smartphone for Amazon. The device is reportedly set to be launched between the second and third quarters of 2013. The manufacturer is “expected to ship as many as five million units” of the smartphone. The handset is also expected to be “budget-priced,” with a unit price of $100 to $200.

With the success of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet line-up this holiday season, the leap to a phone-sized device isn’t a large one. Based on Amazon’s tablet strategy, it’s likely that the smartphone will run a heavily-modified Android operating system similar to the Kindle Fire HD. The Kindle Fire OS focuses heavily on Amazon’s products and subscription service, Amazon Prime.

The smartphone market is already so dominated by Android and iPhone devices that platforms such as RIM and Windows Phone 8 hold only marginal shares of the market. It will be interesting to see if Amazon can put out a true competitor device that is low-priced and lures customers who are already heavily invested in Amazon’s digital media ecosystem.

(via BGR)

Of course, it’s widely understood that the “little” more refers to the iPad Mini, Apple’s 7.85-inch version of their popular iPad tablet. According to other rumors, we may see a new 13 inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display, as well as a new Mac Mini (which would go nicely with the “little” theme). If the iPad Mini is in fact a part of the October 23rd event, it will probably go down as one of the most unsurprising Apple product launches ever as purported leaked images of the device have been floating around for quite some time.

Now, a rumor serves as the final piece in the iPad Mini puzzle. According to Geeky Gadgets, the smaller iPad will hit the shelves on Friday, November 2nd following the October 23rd launch. They quote sources that correctly identified the iPhone 5 release date last month. According to these sources the pre-order date will be next week, possibly the Friday after the launch.

Yesterday, we heard that the iPad Mini will come in 24 different models – four different storage capacities, three different connectivity options, and two colors. For more on the iPad Mini, check out our previous coverage.

AppleInsider got their hands on a list of iPad Mini SKUs and the results are very surprising. It seems that Apple will be selling 24 different iPad Mini varieties at launch. The models will be a mix and match of various storage capacities, connectivity options and colors.

The SKUs have four different models listed that seem to indicate storage capacities. It’s suggested that first SKU will be an 8GB model with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models presumably following afterward.

Strangely enough, the SKUs are being described as “good,” “better,” and “best.” AppleInsider seems to think that this could relate to the wireless connectivity of the devices with “good’ being Wi-Fi only and “best” being 4G LTE.

With storage and wireless connectivity, there will be 12 iPad Mini models available at launch. Add in the two different colors available – black and white – and you have 24 flavors to choose from. That’s a pretty impressive number products for an untested device.

Interestingly enough, the report says that Apple will be shipping more of the entry-level 8GB devices to retailers than any of the other models. This particular model is expected to only cost $249. It would be a little more expensive than the 8GB Nexus 7, but it could still be a huge hit thanks to the iPad name.

Everything we’ve learned about the iPad Mini indicate that Apple is getting this right. They’re coming out right before the holiday season with a device that will have even broader appeal among those who may be looking to buy their first tablet. The iPad Mini also has the potential to be a big hit among children due to its attractive price and large catalog of games.

We’re bound to find out more next week as Apple’s event is expected to take place on October 23. The iPad Mini may be the worst kept secret in tech, but there’s still a lot we don’t know. This latest SKU listing only answers a few of the many questions we still have regarding Apple’s 7.85-inch tablet.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has ordered 10 million iPad Minis to be delivered in Q4. The invite to the iPad Mini event is reportedly going out this week so we’re on track for a November release if the WSJ’s report is to be believed. That puts Apple in the enviable position of having two major hardware launches right before the holidays.

Of course, the iPad Mini is still an untested concept. Under Steve Jobs, the iPad Mini was not even a thing as he was famously against smaller tablets. It’s the Tim Cook show now, however, and the report reaffirms the company’s confidence that they can compete with Amazon and Google in the 7-inch tablet space.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have a price or official specs, but we do have unverified rumors. The latest rumors are saying that the iPad Mini will feature a 7.85-inch display and the specs of an iPad 2. That, of course, means no retina display. That may be for the best as Apple is reportedly targeting the lower end of the market with the iPad Mini. Its price will have to be $300 or less to compete with the cheaper tablets offered by Google and Amazon.

Just like the iPhone 5, the rumors will most assuredly ramp up as we approach the date of the iPad Mini reveal. We’ll continue to be on the lookout for the latest rumors as we head into the highly competitive holiday season. We might even hear news of other companies preemptively announcing cheaper tablets to combat their fears of the ever imposing figure of the iPad Mini.

Today’s leaked specs come courtesy of the VGleaks website, which cites an anonymous source. It claims the info is from Nintendo’s developer website, but please take all of this info with several handfulls of salt.

The VGleaks specs show the Wii U coming with and “Espresso” CPU that has “three enhanced Broadway cores.” The GPU is a “GPU7″ AMD Radeon HD processor. It will have 8 GB of internal storage, but will support SD cards and external hard drives through its four USB ports. The video output supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i through HDMI, D-Terminal, component video, RGB, S-Video, and AV cords.

One area that is holding back current consoles from moving toward better graphics and larger worlds is their memory. The Xbox 360 has only 512 MB of RAM. While the PlayStation 3 has the same amount, that console’s architecture splits the memory into two 256 MB chunks that are separately usable by the CPU and GPU. This is rumored to be the reason that the latest Skyrim DLC may never make it to the PS3.

The VGleaks specs for the Wii U put that system’s RAM at 1 GB, presumably shared. This isn’t likely to be as much RAM as the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles will have, but it doubles the Xbox 360′s RAM and should give developers plenty of resources to work with.

One big caveat to throw in at this point is that a leaked VPD search last week shows that there will be three different versions of the Wii U to purchase. It seems inconceivable that the $249 version will have the exact same hardware as the $349 version. It’s likely that the VGleaks specs, if true, represent the base system specs and that higher-priced Wii U’s will have a larger hard drive. That, or extra accessories such as a second Wii U GamePad are included with more expensive versions.

These leaked specs would put Nintendo’s Wii U slightly above current consoles in terms of power, though probably a bit under what Microsoft and Sony have planned for the next generation. All of this meaningless speculation will be put to the test on Thursday, September 13 when Reggie Fils-Aime takes the stage at the Wii U announcement event in New York.

(via VGleaks)