iPhone 5 Release Date: Analyst Says September

Despite recent reports that indicate the iPhone 5 won't hit the market until October, one analyst still believes it will come out in early September.

RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky noted that Apple's announcement of "future product transition" in the fourth quarter "still suggests iPhone 5 product ramp August/September for a September launch."

This coincides with an earlier Boy Genius Report that indicated Apple was gearing up for a September launch of the iPhone. The report stated that Apple has informed retailers to finish up employee training as quickly as possible and that AT&T has canceled vacations for the first two weeks in September in preparation for the big launch.

All Thing D's John Paczkowski claims that the "all hands on desk" plan isn't for an iPhone launch, but analysts such as Abramsky continue to believe September will be the month for the long awaited smartphone's arrival.

In addition to its arrival date, potential iPhone 5 features have been a great source of interest to analysts and consumers. Although the iPhone 5 isn't expected to utilize 4G LTE technology, one analyst believes the iPhone 5 update is better than expected.

"Well, it turns out that we are picking up that this 'interim' iPhone refresh in the Fall timeframe could be a bigger upgrade than we expected," Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said.

Wu indicates that the iPhone 5 will have a "slightly larger display" and a dual-core microprocessor.

Apple should increase its iPhone 5 sales by 1.5 times the rate of growth of the smartphone market, in part due to its Verizon partnership, according to BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long.

If the iPhone 5 does not debut in September, but instead in the first quarter of October, Abramsky estimates that it could cost Apple 4 million to 5 million iPhone units this quarter, or approximately $2.4 billion to $3 billion.