Apple iPhone 5 rumors, reports say June release

(Credit: Apple)

(CBS) - The latest buzz over Apple's iPhone 5 is pointing at a June release date.

According to a report by the Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times, a source at Daiwa Securities claims Apple will announce the next iPhone 5 at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco this June. DigiTimes picked up the story Thursday. 

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The move would return the iPhone 5 to its summer release schedule. To the ire of anxious customers, the iPhone 4S was not released until October 2011.

A June release would be in line with a previous report by 9to5Mac that Foxconn, the company responsible for manufacturing Apple devices, is gearing up for production of the iPhone 5. Sources inside Foxconn claimed iPhone 5 prototypes have been circulating around the factory. 

Some of the features rumored to make it to the new smartphone include a larger display, glass-to-glass touch panel technology and better and a symmetrical design.

Of course, any iPhone 5 news comes with a dark cloud hovering over it. A damning report by theNew York Times about the working conditions at factories that manufacture Apple products sparked a firestorm last week.

Working conditions are Foxconn, the factory where over 50 percent of the world's electronics are manufactured, have been so brutal that employees have committed suicide in masses in 2011. The suicides were so common, the company placed nets around buildings to prevent people from jumping.

Activists have petitioned Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook to release the first ethical iPhone, by pressuring manufacturers to improve work conditions.

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