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iPhone 5? You might be waiting till 2012

Apple might slide latest fondleslab into anno altero

Apple fans may have to wait till next year before they can junk their iPhone 4s in favour of iPhone the Fifth.

Analyst firm Avian Securities said that production of the iPhone 5 won't begin till September, meaning a holiday launch at the earliest, or even a New Year's debut.

The note, reported in Business Insider, is based on chats with key component suppliers, which support a consensus view that launch will be either a late 2011 or early 2012 event.

The note adds that a low-spec, low-price iPhone is also on the Apple roadmap, though exactly where on the roadmap is unclear.

This is surely a worrying development for the iPhone elite – not only could such a nano-iPhone divert some components, further pushing back the iPhone 5, but it would mean that "ordinary people" can get their hands on a fondleslab.

iPhone fans will already be unsettled as manufacturers struggle to secure supplies of some key components in the wake of the Japanese earthquake last month, with the parts drought likely to hit smartphone sales to the tune of 5 per cent according to The Guardian.

Apple is thought to have already secured its supply chains. Surely it wouldn't be so cruel as to sit back and watch its rivals sweat over their iPad and iPhone catchups before dropping its latest iPhone into a fondle-hungry market. ®

Of course ordinary people have iPhones

They sell them in Tescos FFS, that's hardly Waitrose is it?

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Anonymous Coward

Stupid article

I think El Reg went a bit overboard on this one, you can almost cut the self-righteousness with a knife.

" it would mean that "ordinary people" can get their hands on a fondleslab."

You make it sound like the iPhone is something like a Vertu.

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Anonymous Coward

Hello and welcome

You must be new to The Register. Pull up a chair.

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Commonplace?

iPhones are pretty common and definitely in the hands of the great unwashed masses - a bit like BMWs.

One time I was a passenger on a trip down the M40, I counted all the BMWs and worked out that on the motorway you see, on average, one BMW every 10 seconds.

Which seems about the same as iPhone incidence. They really can hardly be described as a status symbol when the student sitting next to you has one and so does the ticket inspector.

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Anonymous Coward

Thumbs down Why?

Because

"I was once in the pub, and two strangers interrupted a conversation on phones I was having, to say in a snooty voice "Oh, we've got Iphones. Look at how shiny and sexy it is. We don't care about open source operating systems". I mean, what the hell?"

sounds made up to me. Or your going to some really bad bars.

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