Most people have assumed that the delay in the release of the next version of Apple"s iPhone was due to component shortages because of the Japanese earthquake last March. Now a report from a Chinese web site claims that the delay is due to something else. As translated by 9to5Mac.com, the site Sohu.com claims that Apple has had problems with the dual core A5 processor overheating inside the iPhone 5.
The A5 processor is the same one that Apple has put inside the iPad 2. However the Sohu.com article claims that the smaller iPhone 5 is not able to cool the processor inside the phone"s form factor. The article claims this development will in fact push back the release of the iPhone 5 for an unknown amount of time, perhaps into 2012. In the meantime the article speculates that Apple might release a very minor upgrade to the current iPhone 4, titled the iPhone 4S, sometime this fall in order to continue having at least one new version of the phone every year.
While it"s possible that the article"s info is correct it certainly conflicts with previous reports about the delay of the next iPhone. Even 9to5Mac is skeptical of this report from this Chinese language web site. Indeed there are other reports that have showed up online this week that indicate the next iPhone could be released sometime in mid-August. In any case, hopefully Apple will give some clue in the near future as to the release of the next version of its popular smartphone.