Report: Apple iPhone 5 Debuting Mid-September

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will take the wraps off the iPhone 5 at a special event Sept. 12 with release planned for Sept. 21, according to a published report. The vendor also plans to unveil the long-anticipated 7-inch iPad mini and the iPod nano at the Sept. 12 event, the report said, although a sales date was not published.

Meanwhile, photographs of what is said to be the next-generation iPhone now are showing up all over the Web, following some backplate shots that were published in May.

It has been generally reported that Apple is targeting an October release date for the iPhone 5, based in part on the vendor having announced the iPhone 4S last October and the fact that Apple has brought to market a new version of the iPhone every year since 2007, with this year’s hour clock quickly losing sand.

For Apple, the September unveiling can’t arrive too soon. In Q2 arch-rival Samsung took over clear control of the smartphone market, outshipping Apple for the period by 2:1, mostly on the strength of its Galaxy S III and the absence of the next-generation iPhone. While smartphone buyers seem to be holding off, waiting on the new iPhone 5 — a likely explanation for the large delta between Apple’s and Samsung’s sales for the quarter — Apple easily can be consoled by the belief that store lines for the new edition will most certainly include previously hesitant purchasers.

Indeed, once Apple brings the long-anticipated iPhone 5 to market, it will be interesting to see how it stacks up head-to-head against Samsung’s flag bearer.

Should rumors of the Sept. 12 debut date prove accurate, Apple will roll out new editions of the iPhone 5, iPad nano, iPad mini and perhaps the iPad touch only a few weeks after the jury is expected to rule in its contentious patent infringement battle with Samsung.