While Apple gears up for an early September announcement of the iPhone 5, its carrier partners are also at work. Any device going on sale with a cellular network goes through extensive testing before a final launch. This means, Apple has to share their iPad’s and iPhones with carriers before the launch, just like any other manufacturer.
Rumors now claim that Apple has sent out next-gen iPhone with iOS 5 to carriers for testing. The iPhone 5 or 4S as you may call it, should have been out in June, but a delayed launch has increased the glare on what Apple is planning. The iPhone 5G is said to be sent out to carriers in secure boxes and we can be sure that only selected few would have access to it there. Given that both Verizon and ATT are expected to have an iPhone 5 at launch, CDMA and GSM carriers across US/UK must be testing these.
The device is also said to be kept under a prototype shell, this preventing a leak of the new design. Another estimate claims that Apple has as many as 10 million of them ready for sale in the first month. Keeping 10 million devices from getting leaked is sure a challenge, guess Apple has tough work in hand. Our expectations to see a leak remains high as we have seen it again, but if not, the official announcement we firmly believe is before 10th of September.