Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 8:49 PM by Gene

No 4G high-speed wireless connection. No honking-big screen. No quad core processor. The next iPhone may not seem terribly exciting, which might hint that Apple is up to something very interesting: weakening the power of wireless carriers over its customers.

In the latest sign that Apple’s next iPhone will be just an incremental improvement, Taiwan’s DigiTimes reported Monday the next iPhone will feature a 3.5 to 3.7 inch touch panel, rather than the 4.2-inch screen that had long been rumored.

“The sources pointed out that the upcoming iPhone will not have many differences compared to iPhone 4 in terms of components and the panel will still be less than 4-inch,” the trade paper reported.

The mystery deepens when you add up all the other faddish — and expensive — features the next iPhone may not have.

Quad-core processors will be coming to mobile devices this year. Not Apple’s iPhone, which will probably get the iPad’s dual core chip.

Sprint and Verizon are both pushing phones that can use high-speed 4G wireless data connections. Apple may refrain: many analysts think the more efficient 4G wireless chips Apple wants won’t be ready in time for the next iPhone.

So what will make the next iPhone different? Not software, Apple has already said the new iteration of its iOS software — and Apple’s new cloud services — will work fine on today’s iPhone’s and iPads.

Here’s a possibility: Apple’s next iPhone will work on any wireless carrier — or none at all.

The rot sets in! Pfffffffffffft!