Rumors

Up until now the iPhone 5 rumors have been pleasant and hopeful, but as we draw closer to the rumored Apple announcement in October, various sources are reporting things may not be as cheery as they seem.

John Paczkowski's announcement about an Apple media event on October 4th, made fans hopeful that the wait for the iPhone 5 would finally be over. However, 9to5Mac reported earlier the iPhone 5 could suffer shortages in 2011 due to a manufacturing problem. More bad news came from DigiTimes who reinforced 9to5's claim, adding that a bubble defect in the touch panels could be the cause for the delay.

Those unnamed "sources close to the situation" are at it once again, this time telling John Paczkowski of All Things Digital that new Apple CEO Tim Cook, will be announcing the iPhone 5 on October 4th.

Actually... They told him Apple will be holding a big media event on October 4th, we all just assume it will be to unveil the iPhone 5.

Sorry if I can't get excited about an unconfirmed report about the iPhone 5 possibly being announced, but after so many months of misleading rumors, and such a long wait, I rather skip the press conference and just know an actual release date. Apple fans are hoping that the lag time between the big event and the iPhone 5 launch will be short, but I'm not getting my hopes up just in case. However, it would be kind of crappy on Apple's part to throw Cook to the wolves by forcing him to announce the iPhone 5 won't be ready until 2012. I'm guessing if Apple plans to hold a spectacle for their next generation device, they also plan to release it soon.

It's been quite some time since we've heard any new or interesting news about Apple's iPhone plans. The newest case design leak didn't offer any new info about the iPhone 5 that we didn't already know, and I'm getting bored of hearing about the larger home button. However, 9to5Mac did have some interesting news to spread about the rumored low-end iPhone, and some possible bad news about the iPhone 5.

According to 9to5, the new low-end iPhone 4 look-alike is flying off the production line, and Apple should be armed and ready with 10+ million for the holiday season. The iPhone 5 isn't as lucky, and is seeing continued design and production delays. 9to5 believes that the iPhone 4 clone will be in abundance while the iPhone 5 will see shortages until 2012.

The next iPhone 5 is rumored to have a larger home button that would make it possible to use gestures to perform actions without even touching the display area. Some reports even pointed to a home button area that did not involve a physical button, but instead had lighted indicators embedded in the bezel. These designs could be reality if a leaked iPhone 5 screen protector is the real McCoy.

At first glance the wide home button cutout appears to be the only difference between this screen protector and current models. The folks over at unwire.hk compared this product to an iPhone 4 in the photo above and the next generation screen protector is actually wider.

The same day Bloomberg announced that Sprint would be offering free unlimited data plans with the iPhone 5 in mid-October, SprintFeed published a screenshot of the carrier's internal systems which revealed they're preparing for a "major phone launch" in October. Sprint's biggest known upcoming release is the Galaxy S ll which is due out next week. The memo states that a blackout is the begin on September 30 through October 15, so we know Sprint isn't canceling vacations for their Galaxy series. The note says "possible" major phone launch, meaning if it's for the iPhone 5, no one is quite sure of an actual release date. So don't believe all those bold predictions from the "unnamed sources" we keep hearing from.