iLounge

Citing an Apple employee who asked not to be named because he was not allowed to speak publicly for the company, the New York Times reports that Apple’s iPhone announcement is “just weeks away,” and that the case mockups seen online are possibly spot-on. From descriptions I’ve heard of the new iPhone from Apple employees, the images seemed potentially authentic,” Nick Bilton writes, adding, “an engineer familiar with the new iPhone said it would be fairly different from the iPhone 4 — including on the inside.” The report goes on to predict an eight-megapixel camera and dual-core A5 processor for the phone, and also speculates on the inclusion of Near Field Communications (NFC) technology to serve as the basis for a mobile payments system tied to iTunes, although it notes that the feature might not debut until the iPhone 6. Apple is widely expected to release the iPhone 5 next month.