We know. We know. Everyone still hasn’t stopped talking about how many iPhone 4Ses Apple sold last quarter, and here we are reporting on new rumors about the next one. But this most recent iPhone 5 rumor has piqued our interest more than usual.
9to5 Mac reports that a Foxconn worker told them that the next-generation iPhone, tentatively called the iPhone 5, is gearing up for production. According to the report, there are several different samples, each of which varies slightly from the others, so it’s impossible to determine which will be final.
However, all the samples sport 4-inch or larger screens, which would finally put the iPhone into the same screen leagues as many of its high-end Android competitors, like the Droid RAZR. That of course means none of the samples have the same compact form factor as the iPhone 4 or 4S. The screen on one of the units is said to be made by LG; there was no screen info for the other samples.
Also of note: Not a single one of the phones has a MacBook Air-inspired teardrop shape, a rumor that first got started last spring, then visually realized in a speculative post on This Is My Next (now The Verge). Apparently all of the samples are symmetrically shaped.
The report goes on to say that production of iPhone 5 could begin soon, perhaps with a summer release.