Above: Purported iPhone 5 with metal back that iDealsChina allegedly obtained from a Foxconn source.
This one’s a stretch but bear with me for a second. Recently Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller confirmed via his verified Twitter account that white iPhone will be available this spring. He called it a "beauty" without mentioning white iPhone 4 per se. Some folks think it’s highly unlikely Apple’s bothering with white iPhone 4 this late in the game. If Schiller was referring to white iPhone 5, he then inadvertently slipped a time frame for iPhone 5 launch.
Summer 2011 begins on June 21 and the last day day of spring is June 20 – there’s your iPhone 5 availability date. Even if Schiller was in fact referring to white iPhone 4, June 20 still files as a possible iPhone 5 release date because Apple would want to coincide white iPhone 4 availability with the iPhone 5 arrival. Apple typically keeps the current iPhone model on market at a reduced price when unveiling a new model.
An alleged Foxconn source told 9to5Mac that iPhone 5 will have a similar curved metal-clad back as the original iPhone. Digitimes believes a bigger four-inch screen is in the works as well. The company usually makes big iPhone announcements at the annual summer developer conference at San Francisco’s Moscone West. The venue served as a launchpad for the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4.
AppleBitch first noticed this year’s WWDC may run between June 5-9 based on the "Corporate Meeting" placeholder in the official Moscone West calendar. Note Google might have booked the venue for its upcoming I/O conference which runs between June 10-11. Whichever the case, based on Schiller’s tweet we now know that white iPhone will be available by June 20 the latest, when iPhone 5 is most likely to arrive as well.
Pictured above: An iPhone 4 with a third-party metal case
