Apple May Announce iPhone 5 On 7 Sept: Rumour

Apple will host its next big event on 7 September, according to the latest rumours.

Every September for the past few years, Apple has unveiled the latest updates to its line of iPod media players. The Japanese website Kodawarisan is predicting that Apple will host this year’s event on 7 September (by which time it’ll be 8 September in Japan), and use it to announce a new line of iPods.

Launch date speculation

In addition, Kodawarisan claims Apple will launch the iPhone 5 sometime in the late September/early October timeframe. The website seems unclear on whether the smartphone’s initial announcement will come during the 7 September event, but apparently told the blog MacRumors that its information came from a knowledgeable (and unnamed) source.

Rumoured features of the iPhone 5 include Apple’s A5 processor, an 8-megapixel camera, and a larger screen.

Tech publications have generally focused on September or October as a possible launch date for the iPhone 5. AllThingsD, speaking to unnamed sources “with knowledge of the situation”, is claiming the latter as the unveiling month. That conflicts a recent post by tech blog Gizmodo, whose own source – someone supposedly within AT&T – claims employee vacation requests for late September have been denied.

“Historically the only time they’ve done this was for an iPhone release,” read that email. “So we’re looking at the last two weeks of September.”

Low-cost iPhones?

Meanwhile, analysts and pundits seem to be debating whether Apple intends to release a line of low-cost iPhones to complement its next-generation device. In theory, that would allow Cupertino to combat the rising number of cheap Google Android smartphones on the market.

Whether or not that low-cost line sees the light of day, Apple’s next iPhone could prove a hit on its own merits. According to Experian’s PriceGrabber shopping website, some 35 percent of 3,000 US consumers said they would buy the iPhone 5 upon its release. Around 48 percent of those polled said they preferred Apple’s iOS platform to alternates such as Google Android or BlackBerry.

Earlier this summer, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty stated in a note to investors that the next iPhone “will begin production in mid to late August and ramp aggressively”. Her information apparently came from talks with unnamed sources in Taiwan.