iPhone 5 Ramps Up Production As Galaxy S2 Looms Large

In the highly charged smartphone battleground, Apple may be set to launch a proverbial rocket in the form of the iPhone 5.

According to research firm Digitimes, Taiwain based notebook maker Pegatron Technology has received an order for 15 million iPhone 5s to be shipped by September of 2011. This allegedly comes from upstream component maker sources.

The report says the iPhone 5 does not seem to have any major updates from iPhone 4. Pegatron, which is an original equipment manufacturer, did not comment on the report but did say it recently received and handled an order for 10 million CDMA iPhone 4s. However, the phones did not sell as well as predicted, with just under four million being shipped.

The report falls in line with several other iPhone 5 launch date predictions. Most Apple analysts agree that sometime in September, the company will launch the next generation of its iPhone. Whether or not this will be a major upgrade, or just a slightly better version of the iPhone 4, is still unknown.

The iPhone 5 could be coming out at a good time for Apple, which has faced increasing pressure from Samsung and other smartphone manufacturer rivals. The Samsung Galaxy S2 phone came out in late April and since then, Samsung says they have sold three million of them.

The S2 has become Samsung's main weapon in attempting to gain share from Apple in the smartphone war. It is a dual-core smartphone with a Super AMOLED Plus screen with the Google Android 2.3 operating system. The phone has done well despite not launching in the U.S., which it is rumored to do this upcoming summer.

Samsung may get an additional boost in the U.S. according to a recent rumor, which states the Galaxy S2 may be coming to Windows Phone 7 on top of Android.

Apple and Samsung have been getting into battles on and off the smartphone playing field. On top of their usual smartphone competition, the two companies have recently been dealing with each other in court over patents and lawsuits.

Follow Gabriel Perna on Twitter at @GabrielSPerna