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[UPDATED] Consumer Electronics Accessories Executive in Asia Reports Insider Rumor On Names, Features of Next iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad

A reliable source, who chooses to remain anonymous, has just informed the iPhone 5 News Blog that an industry-wide rumor is spreading throughout Asia that Apple will be releasing three new devices in September, and they will be called the iPhone 4Gs, iPod Touch White, and iPad Pro. The source, a highly reputable top executive for a consumer electronics accessories in Asia, heard about these names of the new devices from a top distributor in China. The source said in an e-mail to the Blog that he “Heard from one of distributors today, they are quite confirmed that Apple will announce iPhone 4Gs, iPod Touch white, and iPad Pro next month. Take it as a reference. I think they should be reliable.”
When pressed about the voracity of these new rumors, the source said “It’s still a rumor, I got the info from our distributor. Which we feel good about it since we can continue to sell our iPod and iPhone cases.” This comment suggests that the iPhone 4Gs will indeed keep the same form factor as the current iPhone 4, since their current iPhone case molds will not have to be altered. However, even if this purported “4Gs” were to keep the same dimensions, it would not necessarily mean that the camera sensor and screen size could not be improved — just so long as the components would fit into the current iPhone 4′s chassis.

Fnally, I asked about whether the “4Gs” indicates that it will in fact be a 4G iPhone 4, or if it is just the moniker to attribute a refresh to the iPhone 4, but was unable to get a confirmation either way from our source. Just as the “S” in “3Gs” stood for “speed,” so too could Apple be using the “S” in “4Gs” to exploit the inclusion of the A5 chip, which is not present in the current iPhone 4. If this reputable rumor proves true, it will discredit virtually all of the “spy” photos, leaked case designs, and other related reports over the past month or so that purport to show a radically revamped iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 News Blog completely trusts the credibility of our source, having known him and the company he works for for some time now. And since top iPhone case design companies like the one that our source works for rely on actionable intelligence like this to plan accordingly for the future, there is some validity to the nature of the rumor.
[UPDATED] — I recently received a photo of a purported iPhone case from the same source who provided the rumor above. The case photo purports to be an iPhone 5 case, and even though I have not seen any other iPhone 5 case photo on the net that looks exactly like this one, it does have a similar form factor to the ones we’ve seen in other reports. The plot thickens.