iPhone 5 Rumors That Never Made It

The iPhone 5 on display after its introduction during Apple Inc.'s iPhone media event in San Francisco (Photo : Reuters)

The iPhone 5 is only six days away from being in your hands. After months of rumors and leaked reports, Apple gave the official device details on September 12. The event was widely considered fairly lackluster, since most of the specs were known ahead of time. But what didn't make it in? Here's a look at tworumors that never saw the light of day.

Like Us on Facebook

NFC Chip

Perhaps the biggest no-show at the iPhone 5 show was the lack of an near field communication (NFC) chip. An NFC chip would have allowed for wireless payments and device interaction with NFC-embedded items such as movie posters with a simple tap.  Early rumors had the device pegged as having the chip , but Apple did not include it in their handset.

AllThingsD reports:

"It's not clear that NFC is the solution to any current problem, Schiller said. 'Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today.'"

Passbook is a new feature in iOS 6, the new Apple mobile operating system that the iPhone 5 will use. It will allow customers to use loyalty cards and store and use boarding passes, tickets, and more.

Website CNET also states how an NFC chip requires an "ecosystem" to survive.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 and many Android devices  come with an NFC chip.

Interchangeable Camera Lens

An early LatinosPost report that we posted pointed to evidence that Apple had filed a patent titled, "Back Panel for a Portable Electronic Device with Different Camera Lens Options." The patent showed an iPhone-like device that would have been able to have different lenses, filters, optical zoom, and optical image stabilization. 

"It would be desirable to provide a structure for a compact device that allows the end user to reconfigure the optical arrangement of the device while retaining the benefits of assembling the device using a pre-assembled digital imaging subsystem," said the patent application.

Could this be a feature in the next iPhone? While I won't start speculating about the iPhone 6 just yet, this could be something Apple will implement in the future. The Cupertino-based company recently unveiled the iPod Touch as a media device/digital camera, and has shown interest in pushing the photographical qualities of their devices.