What's new in the Apple iPhone 5S?

With the Samsung Galaxy S 4 about to be introduced this Thursday, it seems that the Android flagship model finds itself in the same position that the Apple iPhone still finds itself in every year; potential buyers, excited fans and the media try to guess what the new features of the phone will be and what it will look like. So far, we have heard a number of different rumors about what Apple plans on releasing this year from the strangely named Apple iPhone Math (which probably is the Apple iPhone +) with a 4.8 inch screen, to the Apple iPhone 5S with incremental changes to the current Apple iPhone 5.

The China Times has just issued a report with the latest speculation on what to expect with the Apple iPhone 5S. The publication confirms the oft-repeated rumor that the next iPhone will offer a fingerprint scanner. The idea behind this technology would be as a way for the phone to deliver a secure way to enable transactions where identity confirmation is a must. Another feature on the mobile phone will be support for NFC. A Taiwan company called Chipboard will provide the touch display drivers and chips that both the fingerprint scanner and NFC will need. The fingerprint scanner will be made by AuthenTec, a company purchased by Apple last year for $356 million. Word is that the company has turned away customers recently, possibly to focus on the Apple iPhone.

While both the fingerprint scanner and NFC support would seem to indicate Apple's desire to play a big role in mobile payments, until something is said by the Cupertino based tech titan, the company is still relying on its Passbook application as a way to offer its customers a digital wallet and a place to store loyalty and gift cards. With NFC, the Apple iPhone could support a true mobile payment technology with tap-to-pay capabilities.

The Apple iPhone 5S is expected to launch in August with a faster A7 processor and a better camera. Production of the mobile phone is said to have already started at Foxconn.

source: ChinaTimes (translated), MacRumors via BGR