At a time when all eyes are on Apple with its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicks off at 10 a.m. PT Monday at Moscone West center in San Francisco, a latest report said, citing an industry analyst, that Apple would unveil the iOS 6 Golden Master in early September, which would be followed by the next-generation iPhone later in the same month.

Rumors are rife that the upcoming version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 6, is going to be the main focus of the keynote at the WWDC 2012. Adding more spice to the rumor-mill, an intriguing post at the Chinese forum WeiPhone made much buzz around the tech world Sunday, claiming to have a list of links to beta builds of iOS 6 (10A5316k) and Safari 6 Developer Preview for OS X Lion.

KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that with beta releases of the iOS 6 expected to be made available to developers after the unveiling Monday, the final release of the latest iOS version could be ready in another three months.

We expect Apple to unveil iOS 6 GM (Golden Master) in early September, Kuo said in a note obtained by AppleInsider. Based on the release schedule for iOS 6 GM, there is a very good chance iPhone 5 will start shipping also in early September.

As noted by AppleInsider, a September release of both the iOS 6 and iPhone 5 would give Apple the opportunity to rack up sales of the device before the end of its 2012 fiscal year. The October release of the iPhone 4S last year resulted in a slower September quarter that surprised the Wall Street, said the report.

Kuo has mentioned in his note that iOS 6 is expected to come with major modifications that include greater integration with iCloud and Facebook, integration with iTunes Store and App Store, improved Spotlight capabilities, updated user interfaces and an Apple map service replacing Google Maps.

According to Kuo, the sixth generation iPhone will come with the company's first change to the size of the device's screen. He expects the device to feature a taller 4-inch screen with a ratio of 16:9. He also believes that the handset would be much thinner and it would sport an HD-resolution front-facing camera.

Last week, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White was also reported as saying that he had been told by people in the Taiwanese supply chain that the sixth-gen iPhone could be released as early as September rather than October. On top of that, the device could well be accompanied by a smaller iPad mini.

The sources in the Taiwanese supply chain also told White that they thought the next iPhone would feature a unibody aluminum casing manufactured by Foxconn. White said that his industry contact was skeptical about the prospect of Apple using amorphous Liquidmetal alloy for the handset's body.

As iDownloadBlog has pointed out, Apple has exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal technology in consumer electronics products. However, both the manufacturing facilities and the alloy itself are not ready for production as of now.

The features that are most likely to be incorporated in the upcoming iPhone model include a 4-inch Retina display, an A5X Variant chip, 1GB RAM, iOS 6, 4G LTE technology, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, 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.

Meanwhile, the world has been set on fire by rumors about the most anticipated announcements at this year's Worldwide Developer Conference. Apple enthusiasts around the world are going crazy about a number of products and services such as the upcoming version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 6, new MacBook Pros and Mac OS X Mountain Lion.

We have a great WWDC planned this year and can't wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers, said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, in a statement.

For more information on WWDC 2012, click here.

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