Apple iPhone 5 Release Date: US Pre-Orders To Start Sept 12, International Rollout In October (Report)

Just a day after the tech world was amazed by purported leaked photos of the motherboard of Apple's next generation iPhone, aka "iPhone 5," a new report surfaced Monday, suggesting that the release date of the highly anticipated smartphone of 2012 is just over a month away, with Apple to start taking pre-orders from the second week of September.

The news was reported by Rene Ritchie of iMore, who said, citing "sources that have provided iMore with accurate iPhone related launch dates in the past," that the Cupertino tech giant planned to start taking pre-orders of the iPhone 5, "at least in the US," from Sept. 12, with the actual release still tipped for the following Friday, Sept. 21.

In terms of the international release of the handset, the report said that "the second wave of iPhone launches, the ones in international markets, will begin in the first week of October," most probably Oct. 5. The information regarding the international rollout of the iPhone 5 came from sources that had provided iMore with accurate information in the past, according to the report.

Compared to the release procedure of the existing iPhone 4S last year, Ritchie said that Apple seemed to be more aggressive this year. Even as iPhone 4S was announced Oct 4 last year, pre-orders were made available the next Friday, Oct 7. The device arrived in U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K. Oct 14 and by the end of that month, the rollout extended to 22 more countries.

However, with iPhone 5, Apple seems to have the intention of hitting the market with a bang. As Slashgear rightly noted, with the new iPhone, "Apple will bring the device on so quick you won't have time to decide if you actually want it or not - you'll have to buy it!"

Ritchie tried to explain why these rumored release dates indeed make sense:

"While in the past, especially when it came to the iPad, Apple took a while to ramp up international distribution, both the iPhone 4S and the new iPad 3 were released internationally quickly and broadly.

So, these dates do line up with past Apple release schedules."

iMore was the first to report last month that Apple was expected to introduce its next iPhone model in a media event Sept. 12 with the final launch Sept. 21. The report also stated that the long-rumored iPad mini could also accompany the new iPhone during its launch.

Last week, another iMore report claimed that Apple planned to roll out the new smaller dock connector across its entire range of iOS devices this fall, including the upcoming iPhone, iPad mini, iPod touch, iPod nano and iPad. If all this information turns true, it will be one of the most intense release schedules in Apple's history.

AT&T Plans iPhone 5 Launch In Late September

Technology news website BGR reported Monday that the U.S. carrier AT&T was planning to launch Apple's upcoming iPhone in the third or fourth week of September.

AT&T sources told BGR that the launch had been scheduled "with an all-hands-on-deck policy in place for employees that will extend through to the middle of October."

"A second AT&T source confirms that a large training event for regional employees has been rescheduled from the first week of October due to a conflict with a 'huge announcement'," BGR reported.

Meanwhile, a number of retailers like Best Buy and Target have cut down the price of iPhone 4S, a move that suggests that an all new iPhone is on its way. Even Apple is also matching the discounted iPhone prices, PC Mag reported.

Likely Features Of iPhone 5

Rumors are rife that the iPhone 5 will feature a smaller doc connector, replacing the current 30-pin port. According to latest reports, the new connector would be a 9-pin dock connector as a possible reference to this has been discovered in the iOS 6 beta 4.

Rumors also suggest that the handset would run on iOS 6, which would be completely scalable to a larger 640 x 1136 display. The device is also likely to feature a much-improved processor, a larger 4-inch Retina display, 4G LTE technology, Near Field Communication (NFC), 1GB RAM, iOS 6, improved Siri, liquidmetal casing, an 8 megapixel (or even higher) rear camera, a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting and a much-improved battery life.