iPhone 5 launch expected in 3rd Quarter

New rumors about release date of Apple's iPhone 5 are in the market.According to new rumors Apple’s next-generation iPhone will launch in the third quarter and the company plans to ship 25 million units by year’s end, according to a report.

Citing “people familiar with the situation,” The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has placed orders with suppliers in Taiwan for some of the next iPhone’s key components. The new version of the iPhone will include an 8-megapixel camera (compared to the current 5-megapixel) and will be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4.

The article also cites a source who says the new iPhone will use Qualcomm’s baseband chips. The current iPhone uses memory chips from Samsung and baseband chips from Infineon Technologies, according to a report from iSuppli Corp.

Apple is telling suppliers to produce enough of the phones to meet a goal of 25 million units by year’s end. By comparison, Apple said it sold 18.65 million iPhones in the fiscal second quarter, which ended March 26. The initial units will ship to assembler Hon Hai in August.

This new information jibes with other information that has leaked out about the release. Last month, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty sent a note to clients stating that the next iPhone would begin production in August. Rumors about the new iPhone also surfaced last month, including one from Boy Genius Report that cited a source saying the iPhone 5 would sport a “radical new case design.” Bloomberg also reported that the model would have an 8-megapixel camera and an AS5 processor and would be available in September.