Need more grist for the iPhone 5 rumor mill? An AT&T vice president has reportedly warned a group of managers they can expect business to get extremely busy in the next 35 to 50 days—because of the launch of a new iPhone. Boy Genius Report cites unnamed “high-level AT&T sources;” however, AT&:T spokespeople have declined to make any comment on the report.
During the iPhone’s product history, Apple has tended to refresh the device once per year, introducing a new model at the beginning of summer. However, the iPhone 4 has been on the market for 14 months, and Apple doesn’t seem to be having any trouble selling them: the company sold over 20 million iPhones in its most recent fiscal quarter, a 142 percent increase over the same quarter in the previous year. Arguably, as component costs no doubt have declined, Apple may be earning a larger profit on the iPhone 4 by keeping it on the market longer than the one-year window for previous iPhones—particularly in North America, where the device launched on Verizon Wireless in February.
Although Apple—as usual—has had nothing to say about its next iPhone, industry watchers generally expect versions of the device will launch on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless at the same time in the United States; however, both versions of the phone are expected to offer global roaming.
