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We're one step closer to the iPhone 5.

Apple today took its online store down to prepare for today's event in San Francisco. The company is expected to unveil the iPhone 5 today at the Lam Research Theater at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Apple typically takes its store offline whenever it holds such an event. And as with those previous events, the company hasn't shown its hand or indicated what it might unveil. But that … Read more

Editors' note (September 12, 2012): It's official, folks. The iPhone 5 is for real. Our first impressions, plus additional full coverage.

Apple is holding its much-anticipated fall event on Wednesday, and you can get your full dose of the news right here.

The press conference, which is expected to bring Apple's next iPhone, takes place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in downtown San Francisco and kicks off at 10 a.m. Pacific. CNET's Scott Stein and I will be bringing you the news live.

You can tune in to the live blog here:

Google won't be able to compete with the attention lavished on Apple for the launch of the sixth-generation iPhone, but it did announce the notable milestone late tonight of half a billion device activations.

"Today is a big day for Android... 500 million devices activated globally, and over 1.3 million added every single day," said Hugo Bara, Android's director of product management, in a Google+ post. It's not clear how many devices are replacing older ones, though.

Barra said in June at the Google I/O show that 400 million Android devices had been activated … Read more

With the iPhone 5 expected to sport 4G LTE tech, one analyst wonders whether Apple will have dealt with all of the "compromises" that CEO Tim Cook mentioned as an LTE deal-breaker last year.

It is "unlikely" that Apple will be able to deliver LTE sans compromises for its next iPhone, said Will Strauss, principal analyst at Forward Concepts, a market research firm that covers wireless communication chips, among other chip technologies.

4G LTE phones have been notorious for underwhelming battery life.

"First of all that chip is going to have to handle not only … Read more

Thousands of units of the new iPhone 5 and other popular smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S III will likely fly off California store shelves the last week of September, and many of the consumers purchasing them will probably do a double take at the total on the receipt.

That's what happened to CNET reader Debi Scott, who read my story on how much sales tax from new iPhone sales could add to local government coffers (JP Morgan also took note of the iPhone 5's potential as an economic booster shortly thereafter) and thought I might be understating the case. Scott told me how she purchased two iPhone 4S smartphones last year for $199 each at an AT&T store in Visalia, Calif., and was charged more than $100 in sales tax.… Read more

The iPhone 5 should be here tomorrow, and with Apple's press event now less than a day away, I'm caught once again pondering my love/hate relationship with Android.

The relative openness of Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean just feel right, but would Apple treat me better? It's hard being a self-proclaimed early adopter when I always seem to have to wait for all the newest and coolest apps to hit iOS first and finally filter to Android months later. And when I get stuck with an app that loves to force-close, I pine for the tighter ships that seem to sail the iOS waters.

The iPhone 4S came very close to luring me away from Google's mobile ecosystem, and the iPhone 5 could be an even bigger evolution that will be hard to resist, but it's going to have to include a few things to get me to ditch Android. Here's my list of demands. … Read more

Quick: What's on your iPhone 5 wish list? A bigger screen? 4G connectivity? Better battery life?

Phbbblltt. Those are no-brainers. What I really want is an iPhone that can stretch to meet my every need -- and I don't mean that figuratively.

To see what I'm talking about, check out this iPhone 5 concept video. It starts off with a few conventional improvements, then segues into features that are bit more pie-in-the-sky -- most notably around the 0:55 mark. Have a look:

How awesome would that be? Mostly I'm just impressed by the quality of … Read more

I think it's fair to say that the iPod is the most important product Apple ever made. It marked the tipping point between Apple's history as a computer manufacturer and its shift toward mobile consumer electronics. Without it, there would be no iTunes, no iPhone, no iPad -- none of the things people think of when they think of Apple today.

Which is not to say that the iPod is still an important part of Apple's bottom line. It could ax the iPod's whole division and still make more money from the iPhone and iPad than … Read more

The iPhone 5 will leave a trail of winners and losers across the mobile technology landscape, says J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskwitz.

Apple is expected to challenge other handset makers with the new phone's battery performance, screen size, and form factor, Moskowitz said in an investors note released today. Whereas larger rival 4G LTE phones have been called "battery hogs" and "pocket hogs," the iPhone 5 is expected to sidestep such labels and tear market share from other phone makers.

An LTE-enabled iPhone will join a host of other 4G phones offering high data … Read more