Walk into a San Francisco coffee shop, and you'll find oodles of the older iPhone 4s and 4S -- in other words, people ready to upgrade.
Good news -- Apple is rumored to have an iPhone 5C in the pipeline to announce on Sept. 10. It's a cheaper iPhone that comes in lots of colors most of them fluorescent. Purported leaked photos show an all plastic housing. Some customers say that's a good thing if it is plastic so it won't be so hard to break.
Apple may also have a pricier 5S in the works that might have a fingerprint sensor in the home button to make the phone useless if it's stolen. The 5S will likely have a better camera, faster processor and maybe a lot of skeptics. Some say the iPhone is still the same each time it comes out.
Apple fans, it seems, really need to be wowed by the next iPhone if they're going to spend their money on it. And if you ask the experts, some will tell you it's been way too long since Apple's wowed its customers.
"People are going to be looking not for features. They're going to be looking for evidence of the old Apple magic," said tech futurist Paul Saffo.
Saffo says it's a different Apple since founder Steve Jobs passed away. The company hasn't launched anything that's completely new and different. Saffo says that could soon change, but not with an iPhone.
"I am quite certain that personal wearable electronics from Apple are in our near term future," said Saffo.
An Apple watch, like the one imagined by PC World, would top Saffo's holiday shopping list. But in the meantime, you can make another fashion statement: the iPhone 5s might come in white, black and gold.
Despite some critics, they'll have at least one buyer. I called Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to get his thoughts on the rumors. He said, quote: "I'll tell you one thing, if there's a gold iPhone I've got to have it."
