iPhone 5

Recent rumors about a September iPhone 5 release have caused a 70 percent increase to eBay's smartphone trade-in program. eBay said (via CNET) the number of trade-ins started to increase around the same time several well known sources purportedly confirmed Apple will hold a special event to announce the new iPhone on September 12. The company said "nearly" 100,000 smartphones were traded-in during a three day period following the announcements.

The 16GB model of the iPhone 4S topped the trade-ins, followed by the 8GB iPhone 4 and 32GB iPhone 4S. Last year eBay received 375,000 trade-in offers for smartphones when the iPhone 4S was officially announced. 89 percent of those smartphones were iPhones.

Sharp's president Takashi Okuda has reaffirmed a fall iPhone 5 release by telling Reuters his company plans to start shipping next generation iPhone displays in August. Previous reports have suggested Apple will announce the new iPhone on September 12, and release the device nine days later on Friday, September 21.

The next generation iPhone is expected to feature a larger screen to compete with larger Android devices like Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphone. Sources have told Reuters the new displays will be "4 inches corner to corner." Apple is also expected to reduce the size of the iPhone's dock connecter from 30-pins to 16.

Several reliable sources have "confirmed" that Apple will announce the iPhone 5 in September. iMore claims Apple is "planning to debut the new iPhone at a special event on Wednesday, September 12, 2012, with the release date to follow 9 days later on Friday, September 21." AllThingsD‘s John Paczkowski reaffirmed the date a day later, followed by The Verge and The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple.

iMore noted Apple will also announce a new iPod nano and the long rumored iPad mini at the event. However according to iLounge, the iPad mini will probably receive its own event and be released in November. iLounge's source also revealed some additional details about the fourth generation iPad:

If you haven't already heard, the next generation iPhone will come equipped with a 19-pin dock connector, shrinking the charging and data port size to make room for other components. While this sounds like a great improvement, many have wondered if this move by Apple will render millions of iPhone accessories obsolete. Now according to a report by iMore, Apple will solve this problem with a dock adapter.

The smaller 19-pin port can be seen in the iPhone renderings above, which are based on parts photos and information leaked from the supply chain. By making the dock connector smaller, Apple is using space more effectively and will have room inside the chassis for an LTE radio and more.

Now that Apple's nano-SIM card standard has been approved by the European Telecommunications Institute (ETSI), reports are coming in that European carriers are stocking up on the cards. The reason? Apple's next generation iPhone will utilize the smaller SIM. So much for those larger iPhone 5 SIM trays that purportedly leaked out to parts sellers in Asia.

Apple's nano-SIM card design is pictured above from The Verge, inside the outline of a standard SIM card. By shaving 40 percent of the size from the SIM card, Apple can free up space for other things in the device. BGR confirms from multiple sources that Apple is supplying carriers with nano-SIM adapters so they can test the cards on their networks.