There has been quite a bit of speculations as to just when the next generation iPhone will come out to play, and the earliest of those rumours has it that the iPhone 5 could possibly see release on the 16th of August, this was due to a job listing for iPhone stales staff to work in retail between Augusts 16 and October 29th.

Now although the iPhone 5 could possibly see launch anytime between those two dates, or maybe not at all, something AT&T has now done could against possibly signal that the iPhone 5 is close to launch.

According to an article over on Electronistia, AT&T has now dropped the asking price of refurbished iPhone 3GS handsets down to just $9 when purchased with the usual two-year agreement. So although new models of the iPhone 3GS are still available it would appear that AT&T is trying to clear out refurbished iPhone 3GS units.

Thus this move could signal that the iPhone 3GS is on its way out completely especially when you consider that AT&T are the only ones that offer the 3GS now that Verizon offers the iPhone 4, or is could also imply that AT&T is actually making space for the arrival of the much anticipated iPhone 5.

There is also rumour that there will be a cheaper iPhone, to battle the cheap Android market, so it is possibly according to the article that once the iPhone 5 makes its appearance, the iPhone 4 could see a price drop to around the $99 or less mark, making the iPhone 4 available to those that currently can’t afford the device and thus address the cheap Android market.

Of course once again all this is pure speculation that the iPhone 3GS is coming to the end of its life and that the iPhone 4 is destined to become the cheaper version of the iconic handset when the iPhone 5 surfaces, as there has been no confirmation either way.

My personal view is that Apple wont offer the iPhone 4 as its cheaper device; the handset hasn’t been out that long and I can’t see Apple allowing such a large price drop on the iOS smartphone yet, so the possibility of an iPhone 4S for the less expensive market or prepaid market still seems most likely, with the iPhone 5 targeting the high-end market.

Still, in the mobile space, everything is guesswork and speculation until such times hard evidence pops up, but what do our readers think, could AT&T cutting the price of refurbished iPhone 3GS handsets to just $9 signal the iPhone 5 may be on its way?