Sharp Confirms iPhone 5 Display Shipments, Signs Point to October Launch

If Apple wanted to, it could silence the rumor mill in a New York minute simply by announcing the iPhone 5, or next iPhone (or whatever it will be called), and at some point, the company will. But not today, not tomorrow, and probably not next week either. In the meantime, more information continues to trickle out, most of which is speculation, but not all of it.

For example, we now know for sure that Sharp is at least one manufacturer supplying the displays for the iPhone 5, and we know shipments are taking place this month. The reason we know this is because Sharp president Takashi Okuda came out and confirmed it when talking to reporters in Tokyo about the company's quarterly earnings report.


"Shipments will start in August," Okuda said.

According to reports, Apple is planning a major product launch on September 12, and it's not hard to connect the dots to figure out that's when the company will announce the iPhone 5. If that's the case, the next iPhone model will likely be released in October, which not only makes sense in light of Sharp's panel shipments and Apple's September event, but also in terms of getting it out there ahead of the holiday shopping frenzy.