So far in 2012 Apple has updated one of its iOS mobile device range with the new iPad, and now thoughts are turning to its flagship device the iPhone. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the iPhone 5 and when it will be released, and today we have rumours that Apple are testing a faster iPhone alongside an iPod Touch 5,1 in time for a fall release.

According to 9To5 Mac Apple has internally seeded a prototype iPhone that is using the iPhone 4 design, and the company is doing this to help prevent any leaks of the new redesigned model due for release later this year. Apple is said to be testing a version of the A5X processor inside the prototype, and the A5X unit made its debut in the recently released new iPad but wouldn’t work inside the iPhone.

The prototypes are instead using a variation of the processor and just like the new iPad have 1GB of RAM, and are codenamed N96 internally but it’s not known if this will carry over to the next version of the iPhone. It has to be remembered that the prototype is being used just to test out the new processor and won’t resemble the final build for the next handset.

Meanwhile the iPod Touch was pretty much left alone last year by Apple except for a new white model, but it seems the company isn’t finished with the device just yet. A file of an internal iOS 5.1 build is showing the company are working on a model labelled iPod 5,1 internally, and while there are no leaks regarding specs a jump from the current 4,1 iPod Touch label to 5,1 hint at some major hardware changes.

Apple may be thinking of using an A5 or A5X type of chip inside the next iPod Touch, which considering the device is one of the most popular mobile gaming devices on the market makes perfect sense. Recently speculation has hinted at an October release for the next iPhone, but we may get to hear more about either the iPhone 5 or next iPod Touch at Junes WWDC event.