By Wendy Li | February 21, 2012 4:13 AM IST

iPhone 5 to Debut in Fall - Real or Rumor?

Apple fans may need to wait a little longer for the iPhone 5 to release than previous rumors suggested. Japanese blog Macotakara now says the highly anticipated handset will debut in September or October.

On Tuesday, more patents were granted to Apple in relation to the iWallet technology, including security measures that aim to keep financial information safe, and the app in iTunes that will house these features. In all likelihood, this is Apple's mobile payments solution intended for its next-generation iPhone, presumably called "iPhone 5."

"According to Asian reliable source, next iPhone will be released in September or October, and this cycle seems to be kept for years," the report said.

Earlier, Taiwanese site DigiTimes claimed that the iPhone 5 will debt at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, suggesting that the current iPhone 4S would have a very short life cycle - only eight months - as the iPhone 4S was unveiled last October. Macotakara, however, believes the tech giant might want to let iPhone 4S enjoy its success run a bit longer before releasing iPhone 5.

MacRumors supports the fall release date, since it "heard from a representative of a supplier known to provide parts for the iPhone that Apple's ordering plans are pointing toward a launch of new hardware in the September. "

Moreover, iMore recently reported that Apple might want to launch its LTE-enabled iPhone 5 in October, which is in line with Macotakara's report.

According to the previous rumors, the iPhone 5 will boast NFC, Lytro camera, waterproof coating, quad-core processor, a physical camera button and more.

Click here to find out more details about the iPhone 5' rumored features.

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