Edible Apple

Well well well. After months of unsubstantiated rumors regarding the iPhone 5 release date comes a new rumor which seems to have some legs.

Both 9to5Mac and TiPB are indepentantly reporting that Apple’s next-gen iPhone will be available for pre-order starting on September 30th and that the device will go on sale the following Friday on October 7th. 9to5Mac notes that the launch date might be pushed back to the 14th but that pre-mass-production is going smooth enough that Apple is aiming for the 7th if possible.

So what can we expect from the new iPhone?

Hardware wise, expect to see an A5 dual core processor and a new 8 megapixel camera in the mix. Software wise, the new iPhone will of course be running iOS 5. Note, though, that the shipping version of iOS 5 will be a little bit different than the OS Apple showcased for us during WWDC to the extent that it’ll include a integrated voice recognition technology powered by Nuance. At least that’s the rumor anyways. The latest blurb regarding voice recognition in iOS 5 is that the feature will be called Assistant and will encompass voice-to-text and voice activated search.

But the real question is what the next-gen iPhone will look like.

Will it look like the iPhone 4, albeit with upgraded specs, and be dubbed the iPhone 4S?

Or, will it sport a completely brand new design (i.e an edge to edge screen) that will be dubbed the iPhone 5?

Or maybe, just maybe, Apple will release two new iPhone models this Fall – A lower end iPhone 4S along with a more expensive iPhone 5.

This is of course all speculative, but we’re putting our money on two new iPhone models this year – and we’re not alone.

Say what you will about Android’s claimed activation numbers, but there’s no denying that Google’s mobile OS is a serious threat to Apple and that the wide variety of hardware choices it offers users is clearly having an impact on iPhone sales. That’s not to say iPhone sales are weak, struggling, or even slowing down. On the contrary, they’ve never been stronger. Consequently, releasing two iPhone models won’t help decreasing sales, but rather help accelerate iPhone growth even further.

Recently, a number of iPhone 5 cases and schematics have emerged out of China and their designs – which feature larger form factors – provide even more reason to believe Apple will release an iPhone with a larger screen this coming Fall.