iPhone 5S, 5C or the iPhone 6? Apple expected to unveil latest smartphone Tuesday

Tuesday, the iPhone 5 becomes out-dated when Apple is expected to unveil the next version of its super popular smart phone.

“They could come out with an iPhone 6, that’s the thing with these rumors, everyone is assuming they’re coming out with the iPhone 5S but it’s so hard to predict in advance,” GeekWire’s Todd Bishop told the Jason Rantz Show on KIRO Radio.

Bishop said the unpredictability is part of what makes an iPhone release fun – like a sporting event for geeks. It’s part of the magic that Apple has created surrounding its releases.

“Based on the rumors, […] it looks like we’re going to be seeing a new iPhone, an iPhone 5S, that has new colors and perhaps some new capabilities including a fingerprint reader in the home button,” said Bishop.

So instead of punching in a four number password to unlock your phone, your unique fingerprint would allow only you to use it. That technology has been used before and it will be a feature in at least two other phones before the end of the year.

“If anybody can pull this off on the first go-around, it would be a company like Apple,” said Bishop. “You’ve had fingerprint reading technology in laptops for sometime, so this particular approach is not completely foreign in the world of technology or with the people making the devices over in China.”

Apple has been consistently improving its cameras, but Bishop said they still have some work ahead in that department.

“Apple is under pressure, actually, to boost the functionality of the megapixels and really just the quality of the iPhone camera. You look at what Nokia has […] Windows Phone, a 41 megapixel camera on the Lumia 1020, it’s a beautiful camera.”

But on the other hand, Bishop said the eight megapixels on the iPhone camera is not really something to write home about.

We’re assuming it’ll be the iPhone 5S, but have you heard of the iPhone 5C”? Bishop said the “C” stands for “cheaper.” In order to be competitive globally, Apple needs to get its smartphone in the hands of more people in China and other markets around the world, where Google’s Android phones are less expensive and more popular.

“Android is by far the leader in global market share and that is in large part because they’re so strong in those developing countries or in those places where handsets need to be cheaper,” Bishop explained. “But the iPhone is still the gold standard of smartphones. In many ways it’s perhaps not leading the market in every feature, but it is the IBM of smartphones: You cannot go wrong by recommending or buying an iPhone.”

By LINDA THOMAS
MyNorthwest.com’s Alyssa Kleven contributed to this report.