Apple iPhone 5 not out till October, report says

By Andrew Couts August 1, 2011

iphone-5-concept-teardrop — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone won’t arrive until October, an anonymous source tells John Paczkowski in All Things Digital. That’s one month later than the timeframe indicated in a slew of previous reports, which speculated that the next iPhone would arrive in late-September.

The source says that earlier reports stating that AT&T employees were forbid from taking vacations during the last two weeks of September because of the launch of the new iPhone are incorrect. AT&T workers may no be allowed vacation time during that period, but it has nothing to do with the iPhone, the source claims.

“I don’t know why AT&T’s calling for all hands on deck those weeks, but it’s not for an iPhone launch,” the source told Paczkowski.

Instead, the source says the next-gen iPhone — which will likely be called either iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S — will be available as of October. Additional sources say customers should expect it to arrive late in the month, not at the beginning.

This corroborates information provide to us this weekend by a Verizon salesperson at a New York City location, who said we should not expect the next iPhone in September. He suggested that it was possible Apple would announce the device in September or before, but that it likely wouldn’t be available for purchase immediately. The Verizon employee, who spoke in an off-the-record capacity, was not able to provide an exact launch date.

In terms of iPhone 5 technical specifications, rumors suggest the device will have a thinner, tear-shaped design; an edge-to-edge screen; a much faster A5 processor, the same CPU that powers the iPad 2; a dual mode GSM/CDMA Qualcomm chip (so one device can work on both Verizon and AT&T, among other carriers); and a higher resolution 8 megapixel camera.

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