Apple iPhone 5S with 13MP camera coming in July

Apple launched iPhone 5 with much fanfare just five months ago, but reports say the company is already working on not one but two iPhones as well as next generation iPad and iPad mini.

Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with KGI Securities, says that Apple is working on an iPhone 5 successor that will have new features like snappier processor, fingerprint sensor, better camera and more powerful LED flash. Kuo's claim of fingerprint recognition system gains a little credence from Apple's 2012 acquisition of Authentec, which deals with this technology.

Coming to the cheaper iPhone being developed by Apple, Kuo says this device will be same as iPhone 5 but will be a little stockier. Instead of the aluminium body and waistline of 7.6mm, the cheaper iPhone will have a plastic casing and measure 8.2mm around the sides. He also said this device will be available in six colours, a rumour that has done rounds in the past as well.

Technology blog iLounge has also reported about the upgrade in camera sensor, saying that the upcoming phone may have Sony's 13MP unit. The report also says that the two prototypes under development are named N51 and N53.

Over the past few weeks, there have been reports of Apple facing low demand for iPhone 5. However, the company's CEO Time Cook shot that down by saying, "The supply chain is very complex and we have multiple sources for things. Yields can vary, supplier performance can vary. There is an inordinate long list of things that can make any single data point not a great proxy for what is going on."

Android Operating System

A Linux-based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet computers. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed financially and later purchased in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance: a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. The first Android-powered phone was sold in October 2008.

Android is open source and Google releases the code under the Apache License. This open source code and permissive licensing allows the software to be freely modified and distributed by device manufacturers, wireless carriers and enthusiast developers. Additionally, Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of devices, written primarily in a customized version of the Java programming language. In October 2012, there were approximately 700,000 apps available for Android, and the estimated number of applications downloaded from Google Play, Android's primary app store, was 25 billion.

These factors have allowed Android to become the world's most widely used smart phone platform and the software of choice for technology companies who require

• Low-cost
• Customizable
• Lightweight operating system for high tech devices without developing one from scratch

As a result, despite being primarily designed for phones and tablets, it has seen additional applications on televisions, games consoles and other electronics. Android's open nature has further encouraged a large community of developers and enthusiasts to use the open source code as a foundation for community-driven projects, which add new features for advanced users or bring Android to devices which were officially released running other operating systems.

Android had a worldwide smart phone market share of 75% during the third quarter of 2012, with 500 million devices activated in total and 1.3 million activations per day. The operating system's success has made it a target for patent litigation as part of the so-called "smart phone wars" between technology companies.

Usage share of Android versions:

Version	Code name	Release date	Distribution (December 3, 2012)
4.2	Jelly Bean	11/13/12	0.80%
4.1.x	Jelly Bean	07/09/12	5.90%
4.0.x	Ice Cream Sandwich	12/16/11	27.50%
3.2	Honeycomb	07/15/11	1.20%
3.1	Honeycomb	05/10/11	0.40%
2.3.3–2.3.7	Gingerbread	02/09/11	50.60%
2.3–2.3.2	Gingerbread	12/06/10	0.20%
2.2	Froyo	05/20/10	10.30%
2.0–2.1	Eclair	10/26/09	2.70%
1.6	Donut	09/15/09	0.30%