Latest rumor pegs Apple’s debut of iPhone 5 in September
The Apple rumor mill is churning once again. This time, the word on the Internet street is that Apple is going to release the iPhone 5 sometime in September.
Previous reports said the new phone would debut sometime in the fall, most likely in September or October.
The date Sept. 21 has been floated in several blogs and news sites, based on a report that surfaced on the French blog App4Phone, but we haven’t seen that anywhere else, so we don’t suggest you count on it.
However, rumors that Apple will release the phone in September, rather than October, may have more legs. On Tuesday, the Guardian reported that mobile phone companies expect the new iPhone to be released in mid-September. And MacRumors notes that KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo -- who has a history of being right on these matters -- is predicting the phone will come out closer to the beginning of the month.
Apple did not respond to a request by The Times for a confirmation or denial of the rumored iPhone release date, but the company has told other news sources that it does not comment on rumors and speculation.
And in the end, that is definitely what this is -- rumors and speculation.
So why are we reporting it? Because rumors can be powerful.
On Tuesday, Apple disappointed investors by missing its profit and revenue expectations, leading to its shares falling 5%.
The company said it sold 26 million iPhones in the quarter that ended in June, down from 35.1 million in the previous quarter. Industry watchers expected a drop, just not one that large.
In a call with analysts Apple CEO Tim Cook waved away the drop, saying the iPhone’s declines were “seasonal” and normal after a large product launch, the Wall Street Journal reports.
But Peter Oppenheimer, the company’s chief financial officer, conceded, “Our weekly iPhone sales continue to be impacted by rumors and speculation regarding new products.”
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