iPhone 5 release late 2011/early 2012?

A new report claims iPhone 5 production won't begin until September. The knock-on effect is that iPhone 5 won't launch before the end of the year - possibly early 2012.

Avian Securities broke the news to Business Insider, citing a tip-off by "a key component supplier" to Apple for the iPhone 5.

iPhone 5 hardware specifications aren't known, but Avain has also heard whispers of a lower-spec and lower-cost iPhone in development.

Many credit 3DS's slow start to the same-day arrival of Apple's iPad 2. Should iPhone 5 launch later this year it could bang heads with Sony's new Next Generation Portable, which is mooted for a late 2011/early 2012 arrival.