The iPhone 5 Rumor Roundup

The iOS and iPhone 5 rumors have been coming in at a whirlwind clip lately, and it can be a Sisyphean task trying to keep up with it all. So here's a quick roundup of everything that might have slipped under your radar.

The Latest

First, the juicy stuff: it looks like Apple is in the final testing phase of the next iPhone, and we have slightly harder confirmation that it will launch in September. The same report notes that, at least at first, Verizon won't jump on the Facetime-on-3G train, which AT&T seems ready to embrace. They do note that 3G isn't the same as 4G, which could mean nothing—or a whole lot.

iPhone 5 Hardware Rumors

The iPhone 5 Rumor Roundup

iPhone hardware rumors are springing up faster than Congressional Twitter scandals right now. The biggest, and one of the bigger stretches source-wise, is that the iPhone 5 will, in fact feature a 4G LTE network. That gem came from a United Arab Emirate's wireless operator jumping the gun on an advertising campaign. We're still pretty sure they're full of shit, especially with more iPhone 4S rumors springing up, this time that it will skip the SIM card. The 4S is the name bloggers have given the less-than-revolutionary upgrade for this generation of iPhone, and dropping the SIM card will save Apple some space inside the handset, at the expense of some security. The same rumor has a "major new" iPhone being released in 2012.

Some other clues can be gleaned from the new software. A panoramic camera mode sort of implies a panoramic camera, for one. And 1080p app exports suggests the same of a 1080p camera. And of course ThisIsMyNext mocked up their own weirdly tapered renders for the new handset based on multiple sources of information.

A bit more about cameras: there's a bit of confusion about what's going on with the iPhone 5's. After competing rumors sprang up earlier in the year, it now looks like Omnivision and Sony will both supply Apple with 8MP cameras. And whoever is providing the cameras, we've seen some case mockups that suggest the flash will be offset, and the screen will be edge-to-edge—and possibly curved.

iOS 5 Blips

The iPhone 5 Rumor Roundup

A lot of apps within iOS 5 will see relatively minor upgrades. Google Maps will allow you to select multiple routes; the weather app gets a "current location" feature, and is integrated into the notification center; the notification itself has been shown to allow development of widgets; and iOS 5 will stream track and artist info to Bluetooth devices.

There are some deeper features floating out, too, like Airport and Time Capsule functionality in the new software, helping users make their iOS device their only internet-connected device. While voice integration wasn't ready to be shown at WWDC, Nuance text-to-speech turned up in iOS 5 all the same. [9to5mac, AppleInsider, MacRumors, ThisIsMyNext]