iPhone 5S to launch early 2013?

Production could begin before the end of the year

 

The iPhone 5 may still be fresh out the oven, but whispers have already begun to surface that an iPhone 5S successor could go into production as early as next month.

The Chinese-language Commercial Times estimates that full commercial production of the rumoured iPhone 5S will begin as early as Q1 2013, with the December run only expected to return between 50,000 and 100,000 units.
The paper claims that Apple has put its foot on the gas for the next iteration of the popular handset, due to low yield rates of the iPhone 5 on the assembly line. Because of the fragility of the parts used to make the device, many break before they even see the light of day.

So soon?

Such an early release of the iPhone 5S remains unlikely, however. The iPhone 5 has had barely enough time to gather dust on shop shelves, let alone pull in the masses of revenue Apple has still to make from it.
A Q1 2013 release of the 5S would also raise questions over Apple's upgrade process.
Then again, the Cupertino-based giant has surprised us before: earlier this month Apple brought us the new iPad 4 and the iPad mini just eight months after the release of the iPad 3 in March.
Nevertheless, it's more likely that the iPhone 5S will hit stores in the latter part of 2013, following the trend set by the iPhone 5 and 4S. It's even possible that Apple will skip the iPhone 5S and hop right on to the iPhone 6.