The Apple iPhone 5 release date has been the subject of much debate recently. The new iPhone 5 launch would happen on 6 June, at the same event as it has for the last three years.

Add to that the fact the iPhone 4 has jumped back into the top three most sought.

For the first time there's a chance that Apple will 'delay' the launch of the new iPhone, at least in terms of the June announcement cycle we've become used to.

Macotakara.jp has reported that Apple has yet to place orders with its Chinese component manufacturers as yet, something that would normally be in full swing by this point ahead of a mid-year release.

This could, in part at least, be due to the events in Japan causing a huge slowdown in component construction.

The same site is claiming the iPhone 5 won't even contribute to Apple's 2011 fiscal year, which would put the launch back to October, ready for the Christmas season.

Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told Mac and technology site The Loop that Apple wasn't definitely about to release an iPhone.

"You get caught up in patterns, and it holds true, until it doesn't," Gartenberg warned. "There is no reason for Apple to follow a predictable yearly pattern, and it keeps their competition off guard a little bit."

Apple has said that WWDC 2011 is going to be focused on software, which many are interpreting as moving attention away from hardware (ie the iPhone 5) and analysts are also predicting that new cloud-based services will be part of iOS 5, the new version of which traditionally launches on the new iPhone.

Cloud complications

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek backed up the idea that the iPhone 5 will be landing later than expected:

"We believe that iOS 5 and the iPhone 5 (both previously expected this summer) are now unlikely to be available earlier than this fall as Apple incorporates new cloud-based services," he wrote, according to Forbes.

"Our checks indicate Apple is aiming for a significant step forward [with iOS 5] with a strong focus on integrating cloud services into the operating system.

"We believe this additional functionality is taking longer to incorporate than expected, leading to the next iOS launch being later this summer or fall."

So it seems Apple could, for the first time since the iPhone 3G, be thinking about moving away from the standard June launch of the new device - if the new iPhone 5 release date proves to be a success, we could very well see a new model from the Cupertino crowd in years to come.

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