If you have been waiting for Apple to launch its new iPhone during its usual launch time frame, you may be a bit disappointed. According to a story on MacRumors, AT&T is rumored to be telling its customers not to expect a new iPhone version to be made available during the June-July time period.
Apple has normally released each version of its mega-popular iPhone sometime in June or July, but there have been recent concerns that the fifth version of the iPhone would be delayed due to the effects of the Japanese earthquake last March. The issues pertain to supply disruptions of iPhone components that are made in that country. The MacRumors story uses an unnamed reader who claimed that AT&T had pushed back the time period for a credit to get an phone upgrade by several months. When the reader contacted AT&T find out why, the company reportedly responded in part with this statement:
Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.
Apple has yet to comment officially on its plans for the fifth version of the iPhone, although there are certainly a ton of rumors on what it might contain. One recent rumor suggested that the iPhone 5 will be thinner than the current iPhone and will have a "teardrop" design.