New York Times: iPhone announcement in weeks. Yes, we have more.

Seth Weintraub | Sep 15 2011 - 10:02 pm PT

We passed up the New York Times iPhone story earlier because it didn’t really contain any new product information. We’ve been hearing early October for awhile now in terms of when the iPhone gets released. Therefore, the announcement in ‘weeks’ isn’t news either.

Neither is the 8MP camera which I was on hand to hear Sony CEO Howard Stringer reveal earlier this year. Nor the A5 processor which isn’t even a small stretch. And the best bit:

two people with knowledge of the inner workings of Apple’s next-generation iPhones say either the iPhone 5 or iPhone 6 will include a new chip that is made by Qualcomm.

Helpful.

But here’s some real info: We’ve heard that there are indeed two different models of iPhone coming out next month (announced this month?) We still think October 7th is the scheduled release date give or take any delays. We’ve heard the low-end model, which is essentially an iPhone 4 look-alike (glass front and back), is rolling off the assembly line in big numbers right now. Apple expects to have 10+ million of these things on hand for launch and full ramped production into the holiday shopping season. These will be priced aggressively and be everywhere.

They will also be offered in both prepaid and post paid plans (this is a big deal – more to come on that).

But there is some bad news…

It appears that the tear-drop shaped iPhone 5 with larger screen and thinner, rounder body is seeing continued design and production delays, at least on one assembly line (Apple has multiple production sources – Pegatron, Foxconn, etc). We therefore think that iPhone 5 will be delayed slightly at the very least and may see shortages all the way into 2012.

The iPhone 5 itself is a sight to behold, we’ve been told. It is impossibly light, yet much firmer than Samsung Galaxy phones which are backed in plastic. The camera rivals point and shoot cameras and will be a major marketing point for this device.

As you probably know, information comes fast and furious in the run up to announcements. We’ll have lots more coming soon.