CUPERTINO, Calif. — AppleInsider on Monday speculated that the next incarnation of Apple's iPhone will likely ship in the fall, a longer wait than most followers expected.
AppleInsider noted a new report that says Apple is behind its usual schedule of ordering parts that go into the manufacturing process for the iPhone 5. As a result the later timing would result in the next iPhone missing Apple's fiscal 2011, which concludes on Sept. 24.
The report cited by Japanese Mac blog Macotakra said Apple could be having issues with all of the moving parts of manufacturing that can push back time frames.
Apple now has to juggle the manufacturing of GSM and CDMA versions of the device for both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, as well as the infrastructure that goes along with it.
AppleInsider also said that Apple may be timing the next iPhone release with a major release of iOS, leading to a fall rollout. But it noted it is unlikely that Apple would wait until calendar 2012 to release the iPhone 5 and miss out on the strong holiday buying season.