We do not like to ask questions usually but sometimes feel the need from popular demand when we receive many emails asking a particular question. We all know that Apple will be releasing its brand new smartphone this year but when that will happen no one knows. The name is another mystery so will it be the iPhone 5 as is widely expected or something different entirely.

The Apple iPhone has become somewhat iconic since its first iteration back in 2007 and actually feels as though it has been with us for much longer. Although a release date for the next iPhone has not yet been revealed a fall launch seems more and more likely but another question concerns what it will be called. For now most tech sites and blogs have been referring to it as the iPhone 5 simply because that is the next number in the sequence. However we also referred to the iPhone 4S as the iPhone 5 before it launched, as that was what most were expecting after the previous iPhone 4 and so the iPhone 4S title caught many people out.

Looking at the sequence of the last few iPhones then we had the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S so it would seem logical that an iPhone 5 might appear at some time. Some people have considered though that as the next iPhone will actually be the sixth-generation iPhone it might be called the iPhone 6 and that the 5 will be missed completely.

Of course Apple doesn’t always stick to being anywhere near logical and sometimes likes to fool us all. We only have to look at the arrival of the latest iPad, which after the original iPad and then iPad 2 was being widely referred to as the iPad 3. However when it was finally launched Apple decided to drop the numbering system completely and just dubbed it the ‘new iPad.’ This also opens up the possibility of Apple naming the iPhone for 2012 simply the ‘new iPhone.’ The difficulty here arises when the next version arrives, will that then be called the new, new iPhone? You can see what we mean so it will be interesting to see what the next iPad will be titled.

Of course Apple hasn’t always stuck to a numbering system for other products such as the MacBook Air and MacBook Pros and we all seem to manage perfectly well with those so what other possibilities does that open up? Many are speculating that the next iPhone will have an even higher-resolution display than previously so the iPhone HD could be a possibility. Another aspect widely rumored is the arrival of 4G LTE connectivity for the iPhone so the iPhone LTE is another option. However this begs the question of what another variant would be called for regions that don’t yet have 4G LTE.

The next iPhone name is certainly something that many of our readers are interested in and have asked about and the possibilities seem endless at this time. To the extent that we may now be more surprised if it just turns up as the iPhone 5 after all!

We’d be really interested to find out your ideas about the next iPhone name. Do you think Apple will continue it’s numbering system or throw a complete curveball and come up with something we haven’t yet thought of? Send us your suggestions of names for the next iPhone by using the comments box below.