Many people waiting for Apple’s next iPhone, the iPhone 5, will already know about the upcoming Apple event on September 12 where the world and his dog expects to see the official unveiling. Although nobody is sure of an actual release date for the new iPhone, a date of September 21 has been rumored and it now appears that iPhone 3GS stock is running low in some stores.

This could be an indication that Apple is preparing for a quick release as it sounds as though 3GS stock is deliberately being wound down ahead of the iPhone 5 release. A report tells how Apple has sent out a warning to the Genius Bars at its Apple stores worldwide saying that there are low stocks of the iPhone 3GS. What’s more, the directive says this stands “until further notice.” As far as the iPhone 3GS and customers goes, employees have been asked to enable screen repairs, talk about the benefits of a new phone or to change to a new iPhone altogether, thereby conserving what restricted stocks of the iPhone 3GS there are.

News of the limited iPhone 3GS supplies comes to us from 9to5Mac and also if stores are completely out of the iPhone 3GS, employees have been asked to swap out affected iPhone 3GS’s for the iPhone 4 instead. It is still unclear whether the iPhone 3GS will remain on sale once the iPhone 5 launches, as you would imagine some older models would be phased out. However it is pointed out that as Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 6 (due for public release this month), supports the iPhone 3GS then it is likely to be available in at least some numbers in some regions.

It’s certainly interesting that Apple has acknowledged the situation of limited numbers of the 3GS and also that this may be the case for some time. It could be purely coincidental of course that this has happened just at the time many expect the iPhone for 2012 to appear but the smart money would be on Apple winding down production on purpose.

We’d like to hear what you think though. Do you think limited supplies of the iPhone 3GS could indicate a release of the iPhone 5 soon after its big reveal? Let us know by sending your comments.