Apple iPhone 5 Release Date Has Analysts Split

The iPhone 5 release date rumours are really starting to hot up now.

Analysts are split between those who believe that the new model will come out during the June / July timescale which we are used to seeing with Apple phones and those who think that it is more likely to be towards the end of 2011 before it sees the light of day.

One theory is that they want to keep the spotlight on the iPhone 4 for the moment, to keep up the sales figures for this generation in the mean time. Another rumour suggested that the complexity of the work being done on updating the operating system makes it impossible for the release to be any earlier than the last few months of the year. Cloud based storage, for example, could be on the new iPhone if its production coincides with the new operating system being ready.

Some sources claim that Apple hasn’t even started to order parts for the iPhone 5 and that late autumn is a likely release date.

It seems that the firm has been trying to secure the parts needed for its wildly popular phones and tablets following the natural disasters in Japan. With a shortage of supplies expected in the near future there is talk of cash payments upfront and of attempts to block their rivals from snapping up all the parts they need.

It is the supply chain issue which mostly leads analysts to believe that the end of the year is a more likely date than summer but we will have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Do you expect to buy an iPhone when it is first released, whether that be summer or autumn?