There is increasing evidence to suggest that Apple will be releasing thinner iPhone and iPod touch models sometime in the near future, although it’s unlikely to be the “iPhone 4S” update that is expected in September.

Thinner Camera Means Thinner iPod Touch?
The first piece of evidence comes via MacRumors, who tells us that Apple’s preferred camera sensor supplier, OmniVision Technologies, has just released a new 5MP camera lens that is 20% thinner than existing versions. With rumors saying that the next iPhone will have an 8MP camera, this new OmniVision camera seems a better fit for an iPod touch since “Apple has had to sacrifice on the camera quality and resort to thinner, lower-resolution sensors on those models,” according to MacRumors.

Tiny SIM Card Suggests Thinner & Smaller iPhones… But We Still Have SIM Cards
Next up is news from Reuters that “Apple has proposed a standardized SIM card smaller than those it currently uses in the iPhone and iPad in order to be able to produce thinner devices.” This is certainly good news for a thinner and small iPhone, but, as MacGasm points out, bad news for the universal SIM or SIM-free iPhones that were conceptualized and even patented. The idea behind a SIM-free phone allowed users to let cell carriers bid for their business and thus reduce rates for consumers, but MacGasm suggests rightly so that this idea probably didn’t go over so well with cellular carriers. In this case, the consolation prize for the consumer is likely a future smaller phone.

2+2 = Smaller and Thinner iOS Hardware
Combining these two pieces of news with various reports from earlier in the year looks to confirm Apple’s continued effort to minimize the iOS hardware footprint. In February, Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on a smaller iPhone, that report that was later substantiated by the Wall Street Journal only to be contradicted by another from the NYT. Now that smaller hardware components are turning up, it doesn’t take much to put 2 and 2 together, and that gives a decent chance we’ll at least see a redesigned, and maybe even smaller, iPod touch in September.

While investigating a story about the upcoming iPhone 5, I stumbled across several Chinese resellers who are selling what they refer to as “iPhone Nano” parts and accessories. Most compelling is an LCD screen labeled “for iphone NANO 5″ but there are also several cases that are built for an iPhone that currently doesn’t exist.

I had a brief conversation with one of the resellers through online chat, they asked if we needed an LCD screen or digitizer, and confirmed to us that the “iPhone Nano 5″ is an unreleased product:

I blocked out their full name from the screenshot for obvious reasons. When I asked about other parts, they said there is also a ribbon cable for the “iPhone Nano 5″ available for purchase.

To make matters more interesting, the picture of the alleged iPhone Nano digitizer (screen) doesn’t have a home button, which corresponds with past rumors of an iPhone Mini with an ‘edge-to-edge’ screen. Here’s a larger picture of the ‘nano’ screen available:
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Remember all those iPhone Mini rumors that were later assumed to actually be about a cheaper iPhone? Apple’s COO Tim Cook has thrown some more fuel on the fire after a meeting with a research analyst about iPhone market share, as reported by Forbes. The most notable comment attributed to Apple’s COO is this:

Cook “appeared to reaffirm the notion that Apple is likely to develop lower priced offerings” to expand the market for the iPhone. Cook said the company is planning “clever things” to address the prepaid market, and that Apple did not want its products to be “just for the rich,” and that the company is “not ceding any market.”

A ‘lower priced offering’ would be in line with past reports by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times that have mentioned a cheaper iPhone/iPhone Mini.

Many possibilities and questions remain, including whether or not a low cost iPhone offering will be announced alongside an all new iPhone 5, or if a cheaper model is going to just be the current iPhone 4 sold at reduced prices, which some rumors seem to suggest.

The comment about the prepaid market is also interesting. Currently, the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS can be converted to a prepaid phone rather easily just by inserting an AT&T pay-as-you-go sim card to make phone calls, and enabling data is just slightly more difficult. Offering an iPhone that is specifically intended for the pay-go market would be a bold move away from their current contract offerings.

The iPhone 5 is expected to be released in June at WWDC 2011.

The New York Times has apparently confirmed that Apple is working on a cheaper iPhone, aimed to broaden the devices appeal in the face of an increasingly competitive mobile landscape. The NYT also disputes some of the past claims regarding new iPhones from WSJ and Bloomberg, specifically that the cheaper device won’t be smaller than the existing iPhone 4.

Another person who is in direct contact with Apple also said that the company would not make a smaller iPhone at this time, in part because a smaller device would not necessarily be much cheaper to manufacture and because it would be more difficult to operate.

More important, a phone with a smaller screen would force many developers to rewrite their apps, which Apple wants to avoid, the person said.

This is interesting because the language specifically addresses the disadvantages of a smaller screen, to me this continues to suggest the new cheaper iPhone will use the same screen as the existing iPhone 4. Maybe this is a controlled leak to alleviate some of the concerns voiced in the developer community about working with another iOS screen resolution?

The New York Times also specifies that the new iPhone will be ready this summer, perhaps at the rumored date of WWDC 2011 and iPhone 5 launch.

Wireless Syncing via Free MobileMe
Finally, backing up prior reports, a new free version of MobileMe will also be released that allows for wireless syncing, according to the NYT:

“The goal is that your photos and other media content will eventually just sync across all your Apple devices without people having to do anything,”

Wireless syncing and easily accessible cloud storage have long been desired by the Apple community. The New York Times did not specify a timeline for the relaunch of MobileMe, but we assume it would be made available along with the new cheaper iPhone, iPhone 5, and a new version of iOS.

Rumors of an iPhone Mini are buzzing around along with a ton of commentary on the possibile device. In the world of pundits and Apple critics you’ll hear both praise of the idea and tons of complaints as to why it shouldn’t be made.

The most prominent complaint is that an iPhone Mini/iPhone Nano’s screen would be too small to be usable, and that by creating another iPhone screen resolution Apple would further complicate UI development for the entire iOS platform. If you listen to the Apple critics, this would somehow lead to Android style fragmentation of the iOS world.

I don’t think that’s going to happen though, and here’s why… I think an iPhone Mini will use a screen very similar if not identical to the current iPhone 4. Let’s review the iPhone Mini reports and we can see evidence suggesting this to be the case.
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Rumors of a smaller iPhone continue to heat up, and where there’s smoke, there tends to be fire. The Wall Street Journal is now confirming Bloomberg’s report of an iPhone Mini, and they’re also revealing some new details about the device, including it’s codename, N97.

iPhone Mini: Lighter, Half-Size, Edge-to-Edge Screen, No Home Button?

According to WSJ, the new smaller iPhone is intended to be sold alongside the existing iPhone lineup, but it would be about half the size of the current iPhone 4 model. Citing an individual who saw a prototype, the iPhone Mini is “significantly lighter than iPhone 4″ and includes an edge-to-edge screen that is entirely touch sensitive, indicating that the home button may be a thing of the past. The smaller iPhone will also include a virtual keyboard and voice based navigation, which would likely just be features of a future iOS version.

Free With Contract?

Their source also says that the smaller iPhone will be available at about half the price of existing iPhones, which would allow cellular carriers to fully subsidize the upfront cost to the consumer. This would place the new smaller iPhone in direct competition to rival smartphones that are sold deeply discounted or included free with a service contract.

Wireless Syncing via New Free MobileMe

The same WSJ report also indicates that the existing iPhone 4 and future iPhone models will have wireless syncing capabilities, thanks to an overhaul of Apple’s MobileMe service. This would allow users to access their entires iTunes libraries from anywhere via the cloud, rather than having to physically sync the iPhone to a computer to transfer the files. In addition to wireless syncing, the new MobileMe would also serve as a digital locker for multimedia, including photos, movies, and video. This would be offered as a free service.

Summer 2011 Launch… Maybe
Both the new line of iPhones and the new MobileMe service are expected to launch this summer, but those plans could change, according to the WSJ’s source.

A summer release could put the devices alongside the presumed launch date of iPhone 5, which is assumed to be released at WWDC 2011.

Of course all of this is just a rumor, but it’s following a similar pattern to the Verizon iPhone rumors, with Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal both confirming the devices independently through sources long before the public release. We’ll keep you updated on the iPhone Mini as we hear more.

Could an iPhone Mini debut this year? According to Bloomberg, Apple is set to unveil a smaller iPhone model in the middle of this year, which is around the same time the iPhone 5 release date and WWDC 2011 conference is expected.

iPhone Mini: iPhone 4 Components, 1/3 Smaller, $200

Citing a source who has seen a prototype, the smaller version of the iPhone that we’ll loosely call iPhone Mini will be cheaper and start at $200 without requiring a service contract. The device is said to feature components from the existing iPhone 4, but be about 1/3 smaller than existing models. Bloomberg’s source cautions that “the introduction may be delayed or scrapped” and that not many Apple employees know of the project.

iPhone Mini & iPhone 5: Dual-Mode with Universal SIM?

Possibly related, Bloomberg also says that Apple is working on dual-mode iPhones, which would allow a single device to work on both GSM and CDMA networks, in addition to a Universal SIM card that would allow iPhone users to jump between different GSM networks without switching sim cards. A Universal SIM may signify that iPhones carrying such a chip would be carrier agnostic, which would render the iPhone carrier unlock hacks irrelevant.

Bloomberg and iPhone Rumors
Earlier this year Bloomberg said that the upcoming iPhone 5 and iPad 2 models would become digital wallets through a built-in NFC chip.

Bloomberg should generally be considered a fairly reliable source of Apple rumors. Last year their sources accurately predicted the Verizon iPhone announcement would be in January 2011.