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Rumor Roundup: Ribbon cables galore

Chris Rawson
Updated ·4 min read
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There's no Swatch in your future iWatch (BGR)

75 percent of this article is a rehash of a rumor that the headline itself says is not true. It's only after a couple hundred words of nonsense that BGR finally gets to the point - namely, that Swatch has no plans to work with Apple on smartwatches.

I'd go one further and say that if Apple has plans to release a smartwatch at all - and despite years of stupid rumors, that's still a very big if - it won't be partnering with any of the existing watchmakers. The Motorola ROKR is a perfect example of why not. Apple has its own design ethos, and partnering with established players is only going to compromise that ethos. And if you think Apple is going to compromise on design... you don't know Apple.

As iPhone 6 enters production, even more internal components leak (9to5 Mac)

From the article: "These disparate photos don't reveal anything particularly outstanding about the upcoming phones." Awesome. Thanks for wasting our time with more images of ribbon cables, guys.

Possible 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Volume/Power Flex Cable and SIM Card Tray Shown in New Images (MacRumors)

More ribbon cables, and more jumping to spurious conclusions based on ribbon cables.

From the article: "As it is difficult to determine size based on images, it is unclear which set of leaked flex cables might be designed for the 4.7-inch iPhone and which is destined for the 5.5-inch iPhone, but as both cables are different than existing parts for the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and iPad mini, they point towards two separate devices if legitimate."

Alternate explanation: one of these cables may be for a slightly redesigned iPad Air, or iPad mini, or iPod touch. You know, existing products, for which there is actual evidence of their existence. Unlike this much-mentioned but never seen outside of analyst fever dreams "5.5-inch iPhone 6."

Alternate explanation two: one of these cables may be for a product that has nothing to do with Apple. Possibly a product built by a company whose name rhymes with "damn dung."

iPhone 6: What we know, what we don't know, what we'd like to see (Macworld)

This article does a mostly good job of outlining Macworld's best guesses for the next-gen iPhone, and it generally steers clear of the pie-in-the-sky nonsense the rumor blogs are constantly pimping. That having been said, the summary at the end pretty much says it all: "We're pretty comfortable saying there'll be a new iPhone this fall, with a faster processor and other advancements over last years. Beyond that? We'll wait until we actually see the thing (or things) to find out for sure." If only everyone were so pragmatic, I would have no more stupid rumors to dismantle, and I could finally live out my dream of moving to a beachside village in New Zealand.

Rumor: Production for new iPad mini, iPad Air, & 5.5" 'iPhone 6' pushed to Sept. (AppleInsider)

Taiwanese publication makes unsubstantiated claims about Apple's production plans. Rumor blogs pass it on like this constitutes real news. Water is wet. The sky is blue.

Bare iPhone 6 Logic Board Surfaces, Claimed to Support NFC and 802.11ac Wi-Fi (MacRumors)

From the article: "With the photos showing only the bare printed board and no chips or other components installed, it is difficult to tell much new information from the part." Of course, that didn't stop the baseless speculation that the iPhone 6 will have NFC. To MacRumors' credit, they at least acknowledged the fact that NFC has been rumored over and over again and still isn't guaranteed to debut in the next iPhone.

Whether this claimed part is legitimate or not, it's nice to see something other than the same old blurrycam photos of the metal backside enclosure and stupid ribbon cables for a change.

Chart Suggests Speed-Bumped 15-Inch Retina MacBook Pros with 16GB of RAM Standard Coming Soon (MacRumors)

This is a photo of product listings on a screen. In other words, it would have been trivially easy to fake this. You wouldn't even need Photoshop; iWork would do the trick.

Too many rumors from "the Far East" have turned out to be total BS for me to take any of them at face value.