What To Expect At Apple's Tuesday iPhone Event

Christmas arrives early today as Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation iPhone at a special event in Cupertino, California. Rumors suggest Apple may only release one new iPhone model tomorrow, but we’re not so sure. As such, we’re still hoping the company’s “one more thing” is indeed an iPhone 5, along with the release of an iPhone 4S. Further, Apple will be finally launching iOS 5, as well as iCloud to the public. Note: AppAdvice will be covering everything that Apple announces right on the site. Make sure to be around at 10AM on Tuesday morning. Here are our predictions on what to expect tomorrow, arranged according to likelihood iCloud - Guaranteed Apple will, as announced in June, launch its new cloud offering service called iCloud to the public tomorrow. It will allow users to sync all their iDevice and apps with Apple's servers, and access their music on the go easier than before. iOS 5 - Guaranteed As promised in June, Apple will announce the launch of the fifth iteration of its mobile operating system to the masses, with over 200 great new features. The iPhone 4S - Very Likely Apple will announce a potentially lower-priced handset tomorrow called the iPhone 4S. Bank on it! Despite being 15-months old, the iPhone 4 is still an amazing iDevice. As such, the iPhone 4S will look a lot like the current iPhone model, but with updated components inside. iOS 5 GM - Very Likely The finally version of iOS 5 will be released to developers. From here, expect a public version to arrive next week, ahead of the new iPhone launch. The iPhone 3GS gets retired - Probably The longest available iPhone will officially call it a career. Bye, bye. Yet, it will still get iOS 5. The iPod touch updated with a lower price - Probably There is still huge demand for the iPod touch and as such, expect a modest update here. You can probably thank the Kindle Fire for Apple dropping the price of its flagship iPod below $200 for the first time. The iPod classic and iPod shuffle are history - Probably Yes, they will both be retired, as customers are more interested in buying devices that do more than simply play music. The iPhone 5 – Yeah, It’s Coming, We Hope In recent days, we’ve heard a lot about the iPhone 4S. In fact, Apple pretty much confirmed it when iTunes 10.5 beta 9 was released late last week. Unfortunately, in the process, we’ve heard very little about an iPhone 5. Should we be worried? Probably not. Apple seems committed to offering a lower-priced iPhone to the masses. To do so, the company naturally has to also offer a more expensive model. And this, in our opinion is the iPhone 5. I mean, they have to launch something new. Yet, they could of course launch a device that looks just like the iPhone 4, and name it iPhone 5. Note – If we’re wrong on this one, most of the predictions that follow will quickly fall by the wayside. Thinner body iPhone 5– Probably Each subsequent iPhone has always been thinner than past models. Therefore, expect the iPhone 5’s design to look a lot like the iPad 2, which was thinner than the original iPad. Dual-core A5 CPU – Probably The iPad 2 has an A5 CPU and so will the iPhone 5, and maybe even the iPhone 4S. It will make games and apps faster and better looking than ever before. CDMA/GSM Dual Mode - Probably Wouldn’t it be nice if the next iPhone worked on any network? It's very likely your next iPhone will be able to do that. After all, the current CDMA iPhone already packs the necessary chips. Yet, it shouldn't really matter much as most iPhones are sold simlocked and on contract. 8MP camera – Probably Each subsequent iPhone has included a better camera, and the iPhone 5 or 4S will continue that trend. Facebook Deal – Probably Apple and Facebook really dislike Google. In fact, don’t be surprised if Tim Cook welcomes Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the floor tomorrow to announce something huge between the two companies, both for on the iPhone and iPad. And yes, the Facebook for iPad app will finally be unveiled. Nuance/Siri Voice Controls/Assistant – Likely On The iPhone 5 Apple bought Siri and is said to be working closely with Nuance to bring improved voice controls to the company’s next handset. According to many leaks, this will be a revolutionary personal assistant. Sprint iPhone – Likely, But With One Caveat America’s third-largest carrier will almost certainly be carrying a new iPhone. However, it may only come in the form of an iPhone 4S. The more expensive iPhone 5 will remain at AT&T and Verizon only. Lower Priced iPod nano – Likely, But Not Much Different With the iPod shuffle’s exit, expect the iPod nano to become the company’s less expensive iPod model. We don’t expect any major changes here except for a lower price. Plus, new colors would be nice as well as bluetooth capability. Larger screen – Maybe There's been a lot of chatter about Apple making the next iPhone's screen a bit bigger, to offer a better experience when watching videos or reading web pages. This would be possible without giving up on the retina resolution, or making the device dramatically bigger by simply making the edge thinner. We don't think that's happening. Teardrop Shape - Probably not You might have heard some rumors that the next iPhone will be shaped like a tear drop, similarly to the Macbook Air. Unfortunately, that would make the device unbalanced when held in landscape mode, which is very popular for video watching and games. Therefore, we don't think it's happening. New Home Button – Probably Not Apple's iconic home button seems to be here to stay. Yet who knows, it could evolve to allow for better multitasking. T-Mobile iPhone – Probably Not T-Mobile publicly announced that it will not be getting the iPhone anytime soon. Probably, their different 3G network is a major obstacle. However, they might just be lying. NFC Chip – Probably Not The rumor has it that Apple still hasn't perfected NFC technology to allow mobile payments from your iPhone. It would indeed take a lot of partners, and we haven't heard much about it. 4G – Probably Not Not only are 4G networks not available in many places in the US and around the world, but current 4G chips are very energy-hungry and would kill the iPhone's battery in just a few hours. We think you'll have to wait until next year for this one. More Than Black and White iPhones – No way After this year’s white iPhone 4 debacle, Apple will probably stick with what it knows and release black and white models only for the iPhone 5. Still, we would buy a (RED) iPhone 5 in a heartbeat. Alas, it probably won’t happen. Steve Jobs On Stage – Probably Not Tomorrow is about Tim Cook. As such, don’t expect Steve Jobs in the room tomorrow. Yes, that is a shame. What do you think of our predictions? Anything you’d like to add or question? Let us know by using the comments below. [Image Credit: Apple's HQ Conference Room In Cupertino This morning - 9to5mac]

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