Rumor: New iPods, iPads, and iPhone on the horizon

Rumor has it that Apple over the next few months will release new iPods, a smaller iPad, and believe it or not, a new iteration of the iPhone

Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge recently posted a few intriguing rumors regarding a number of iOS devices that may be coming to an Apple Store near you in the next couple of months. As opposed to some sites that post Apple related rumors that never pan out, iLounge's track record is often on target, and early on Wednesday, they posted a few doozies.

Up first are iPods. Horwitz writes that Apple has 3 new iPods in the pipeline. While Apple typically unveils new iPod models at "media events" held in September, Horwitz notes that a small 1.7-inch touchscreen iPod Shuffle may see the light of day as early as this August. As for the other 2 iPod models, those are obviously the iPod Touch and iPod Nano which by all accounts will hit store shelves in September. While there hasn't been much talk about what the next-gen iPod Nano will bring to the table, it's been rumored that the next-gen iPod Touch will come with a front facing camera and will include support for the Facetime feature which is currently an iPhone 4 exclusive. At the very least, we can expect the next iteration of the iPod Touch to come equipped with a camera.

Also under development in Apple's secretive layer is a smaller 7-inch iPad that will reportedly be ready for release in late 2010 or early 2011.

But the most interesting rumor of all, and one that should be taken with a grain of salt, is that Apple is planning to push up the usual release cycle for the iPhone to as early as January 2011. Apple, so the report goes, is gearing up to push out iPhone 5 in large part due to the controversy surrounding the iPhone 4 antenna.

It’s unknown whether this will be a repackaging of iPhone 4 components in a different shell or something more substantial. We reiterate: it’s hard to believe. But as with so many seemingly far-fetched early reports, it’s not impossible.

While certainly possible, this would seem utterly improbable. Stranger things have happened, sure, but with the fire from "antennagate" slowly dwindling down, there really is no reason for Apple to all of a sudden release a new iteration of the iPhone a mere 7 months after the release of the iPhone 4. Besides, wouldn't that amount to Apple admitting that the iPhone 4 was subject to a design flaw?

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