Analysts have been speculating an October launch for the iPhone 5 for some time now, in keeping with the launch cycle of last year’s iPhone 4S. New reports suggest that the release of the 5th anniversary iPhone may be brought forward a month, and could even hit shelves as early as late August.
A September launch seems more likely however, as Apple appears to be experiencing problems with the production of the next iPhone’s battery, with only 30% of batteries currently meeting Apple’s strict quality standards.
The iPhone 5 is expected to have a larger 4 inch screen, NFC support, LTE (where available), and improvements to Siri and iCloud. Although the current incarnation of Siri has just received some negative press from a Piper Jaffray study, which claims Siri possesses poor comprehension of user commands, an estimated 21% of all iPhone users say they will buy the next iPhone no matter what.