iPhone 5 Expected to Launch in Q3

Apple's iPhone 5 will launch in the third quarter, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. It has placed orders for key components used in the device. The company plans to meet the goal of 25 million units by the end of the year.

According to some suppliers of components to Apple, the iPhone 5 will be thinner and lighter than the previous iPhone and include an 8-megapixel camera.

The new iPhone will use Qualcomm's baseband chips, said Mashable.com. The current iPhone uses memory chips from Samsung and baseband chips from Infineon Technologies.

Apple is telling its suppliers to produce enough of the phones to be able to ship 25 million units by the end of the year. Apple said it sold 18.65 million iPhones in the fiscal second quarter, which ended March 26.

Two of the people familiar with the situation cited by the Journal cautioned that shipments of the new iPhone might be delayed if the supplier cannot improve its yield rate because the new iPhone is complicated and difficult to assemble.

Hon Hai, a Taiwan-based company, is one of Apple's suppliers and the world's biggest contract manufacturer of electronics by revenue.

Terry Gou, Hon Hai's chairman, said the unsatisfactory yield rate of Apple's touch screen devices has weighed on the company's profitability.

The touch-screen devices are so thin. It's really difficult to install so many components into the iPhones and iPads, Mr. Gou told the Journal. We hope to raise the yield rate and volume in the second half which will help improve our gross margin.

Carolyn Wu, a spokeswoman for Apple in Beijing, declined to comment. A Hon Hai spokesman also declined to comment about the iPhone 5.