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The hyper-hyped iPhone 5 is coming out on 15 October, according to the CEO of France Telecom, the parent company of Orange.
Mobile bigwig Stéphane Richard was speaking to French reporters when he let slip that the fifth iPhone’s French release date would be slap bang in the middle of October. If that’s true, we’d expect the UK release date to be the same day.
Richard hasn’t been shy about discussing Apple’s plans in the past — in May he confirmed that Apple is working on a smaller SIM-card standard.
So how likely is a 15 October launch date? Well, it would align nicely with rumours that AppleCare staff had been told to expect an increase in queries related to iOS 5 from Monday 10 October — last year Apple released iOS 4 just a few days before the iPhone 4 itself.
On the other hand 15 October is a Saturday, which might be convenient for shoppers, but for the last few years Apple has released its biggest products during the week, forcing working stiffs like ourselves out the office to queue for them. Apple will also be keen on getting media outlets to write loads of coverage on the launch, and that’s harder to do on a weekend.
We’re not sure what to expect from the iPhone 5 — leaked case designs suggest a rounded back with a larger screen, though recently an analyst said that the iPhone 5 was likely to be a minor redesign, and look a lot like the current iPhone 4.
What do you think the iPhone 5 will be? Have a guess in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
