The sixth generation of Apple's vaunted iPhone—the iPhone 5—is expected to arrive in Apple stores worldwide on September 21, 2012, according to latest rumors approximately one year after the launch of the iPhone 4S. Google's Android, nipping at its heels for years, is expected to overtake Apple's iPhone in market share this year putting Apple on the defensive. If there ever were a time for the iPhone to woo and wow potential buyers, now would be it. The iPhone 5 should continue the biennial pattern of issuing a major overhaul the year after a more evolutionary model, like the 3GS and 4S. With every new iteration, the questions on everyone's mind are:

1. What's new? (What are the new added features?)

2. What does it look like?

3. When does it come out exactly?

Launch date change: While iOS 6 was announced at the WWDC in San Francisco in June, Apple has so far been mum with details concerning the iPhone 5 itself. The actual date of the iPhone 5's availability has not yet been announced, but is expected towards the end of the summer. The latest rumors point to a September 21 launch in the United States.

So far, Apple's been characteristically mum
on the details on all future unannounced
products, but the rumor mill and fake
pictures are already starting to spring up.
Here's what we can probably expect: 4G: The iPhone 4 and 4S are belatedly available on Verizon in the
United States (and the latter on
Sprint), but 4G (LTE) is likely not going
to be available until AT&T releases its
own 4G service (HSPA+) nationwide,
expected in later 2011 at the earliest. The iPhone 5, released in 2012, will
likely be the first 4G iPhone available on all three US carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint). This is,admittedly, a disappointment for Verizon users, since its speedy LTE network will have been deployed for well over a year and accessible with competitive (read: Android) devices during that time. Edge-to-edge, larger screen. The entire front face of the iPhone might be a screen, doing away with the physical
home button, or possibly integrating it into the display itself. Rumors suggest the screen will grow from 3.5 inches to
3.75 inches. Smaller port. The 21-mm wide, 30-pin connector port at the bottom of the phone
is expected to be replaced with a narrower
port, requiring new USB and charging
cables and connectors. Faster chip. With each successive Apple mobile operating system, increased
complexity and added features create
strains on the processor. Apple is likely to
move away from working with Samsung,
with whom it has a number of outstanding
patent lawsuits underway, and move to an updated, dual-core A5X chip, which the
iPhone 5 will share with the newest (third-
generation) iPad. The A5X has a 1 GHz
CPU, and a quad-core GPU. The heavily-
rumored A6 chip will likely appear in the
7th generation iPhone and 4th generation iPad, both to be unveiled in 2013. Polysilicon (p-Si) touchscreen mounted on Gorilla
Glass. The Japanese newspaper, Nikkan, has reported a rumor that the 2012 iPhone
will switch to a new display material that will
enable it to be thinner, lighter, and less
power-intensive than current displays. If
even the last claim is accurate, that will be a
major boon to battery life, since a phone's display is typically the largest draw on
power. This display technologically will
putatively be manufactured by Sharp,
starting the spring of 2012 ahead of the
phone's summer launch.
Gorilla Glass, a Corning innovation, resists breakage far better than any other
commercially-available glass. Coupled with
the p-Si touchscreen, the iPhone 5 will
likely be the brightest- and toughest-
screened iPhone yet. More memory. The iPhone app store shows no signs of abating in popularity, and
without SD card memory expansion in
Android phones, Apple will up the phone
storage options available. Expect 64GB
and 128GB variants. Improved battery. The iPhone 5 might be the first to use the organic radical battery
(ORB) technology developed by Japan's
NEC, which is more environmentally-
friendly than current lithium ion batteries that have dangerous heavy metals. ORB also boasts an absurdly fast recharge time (about 30 seconds) and higher energy density (will be able to pack more power into a smaller battery). Better camera. The iPhone 5 might be the first iPhone to cross the 10 million pixel threshold with its camera (the iPhone 4S boasts an 8 MP camera), unsurprising as high-resolution images have always been a hallmark of Apple's products. Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip. Debuted on the Samsung Nexus S and possibly implemented on the iPhone in the 5th generation product, this newest hardware addition enables contactless communication between a phone and objects similarly embedded NFC capabilities. This should eventually enable things like paying via credit card by holding your phone over a terminal for a second,or paying for things from vending machines using your phone. The technology is similar to Bluetooth although it uses less energy and establishes a connection far more quickly (although at a much closer range -a few inches away instead of yards away). The most compelling reason for not installing an NFC chip is that the technology has really been Google's bailiwick, since adoption of the technology at POS (point of sale) retail terminals has been pushed by Google Wallet. Apple might strategically choose to lag here. Form factor improvements. Apple puts a tremendous amount of emphasis on the sleekness of its products. The iPhone 5 will be no exception, with a modern,lightweight, and thin look. Expect some surprises in terms of shape and, especially, materials, as Apple hopes to push the envelope and fend off attacks from Android handmakers, its largest competition. Case material improvements. To round out the environmental friendliness of the new device, more advanced, naturally-sourced plastics might be used in the case. For example, isoplast polymers might replace
the previously used polycarbonate case
manufactured with BPA (bisphenol-A). Some rumors point to Liquidmetal, a "smooth as liquid" metallic alloy that can be
injection molded for plasticity, as a novel case treatment: the curves of a plastic, but with the luster and resistance to breakage
of metal. Liquidmetal is an alloy of titanium, copper, nickel, zirconium, and other
metallic elements. Improved antenna design. After the fiasco of the iPhone 4's wraparound metal antenna,
Apple has to make some ground in
reception in its new overhaul. This has
been addressed somewhat by iOS 5
already, which purports to choose
between two sets of antenna based on the strength of the signal. But for the 2012
iPhone, expect a new antenna that doesn't
require a special case or on-the-fly
antenna selection to avoid "death grip"
interference. This will probably be a benefit
that Apple will not make a whole lot of fuss about, since it would only draw attention to
the iPhone 4's serious shortcoming, and
because it was supposedly addressed via
iOS 5. Possible innovations and features Apple usually includes something unique
and technologically cutting-edge into each
iteration of the iPhone (like the smudge-
proof screen in the 3G and glass case in
the iPhone 4 and 4S). Here are some
long-shot possibilities for the iPhone in 2012:the case could be made of the battery itself
(lithium ion polymer), reducing weight and
improving battery life the button could be phased out, replaced
with a virtual button on-screen face or thumb recognition as a security
measure the phone could be a Wifi hub using the
carrier 4G connection a "pico-projector" - video can be projected
a short distance onto a flat surface a clear "window phone" in which the
phone could be transparent What do we know so far? Toshiba Mobile Display Company is
building a $1.2 billion factory to produce
LCD panels for the iPhone 5. The factory is
scheduled to be operational in the second
half of 2011, ready to produce iPhone 5
displays for the 2012 launch. A consortium of three Japanese display
manufacturers - Toshiba, Hitachi, and
Sony - are merging their mobile display
businesses in early 2012. They are
reportedly working on a 4-inch (10.1 cm)
display that is rumored to be used in the iPhone 5.