Apple iPhone 5 Release: Most Rumored Features, Sightings and More [PHOTOS]

Apple's so-called "number one smartphone," the new iPhone 5, is speculated to be released in early September, specifically on Sept. 5. A tipster sent pictures to tech website "9 to 5 Mac" on Thursday, claiming they were photos of an Apple employee using the new "iPhone 5."

Seth Weintraub, writer for 9to5mac.com, wrote on the site, "a tipster sent us some pictures of what he now thinks is the iPhone 5."

He added, "[The tipster] caught what he said was likely an Apple employee hunched over the device on the way home from work in San Francisco earlier this week. He told us he was able to get a very good look at the device but the pictures he snapped 'didn’t do it justice.'"

According to the tech site, the claimed sighting of the Apple prototype model used by an employee was credible information. The site also described the device he saw as “Almost Evo-like” in screen size, and that this phone is considerably thinner than the iPhone 4.

Below are rumored features for the new Apple iPhone 5 model:

Home Screen Customization / Widgets
The iPhone 5 could have home screen widgets or some form of added customization options available. This feature may not be extremely likely due to Apple’s genuine philosophy for simplicity, but who exactly likes a standard digital format clock as their home screen?

New Design / Unibody Enclosure
From plastic to glass to unibody aluminium, this is the transition we want the iPhone 5 to have this time around, much like their latest Macbook series of computers.

Updated Stock Photo Gallery
This is another software update we want to see, and an update to the Photos app is inevetable at some point. The current version of the app gives you a folder, which is touchable, and then opens so you have all your photos in a grid, which when clicked, allows you to swipe to see the next one.

Faster Dual-Core Processor
The current chip in the iPhone 4 is a very decent processor for a smartphone indeed. In fact, it is the exact same processor as is in the iPad. However, with the latest release of the HTC HD which sports the next generation of the Snapdragon processor, the iPhone 5 (if it sported the A4) would be, well, slow on paper – and that isn’t good, because Apple is all about paper.

NFC Technology Integration
We want the iPhone 5 to have NFC iWallet Technology, a feature which we covered earlier in the year surrounding the iPhone 5. This feature is such a high possibility because Benjamin Vigier, the man behind NFC, was employed by Apple earlier in the year; what’s more, the Google Nexus S has NFC built in.

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