Although the iPhone 5 hasn’t long hit the shelves, thoughts have already turned to the next-generation iPhone. Although the last iPhone iterations have released in the fall it seems there is a growing school of thought that the next iPhone, maybe called the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, might return to a summer release. Today we have heard of increased speculation about some big Apple product launches by mid-2013.

In recent weeks we’ve already heard claims that production trials of the next iPhone might begin as early as next month. Following this we told how it was possible that the iPhone 5S (or iPhone 6 or whatever the next iPhone is called) could be revealed at WWDC in June, along with iOS 7. Now further news tells of several component suppliers in the Far East who are anticipating good Q1 results ahead of significant Apple product launches in the middle of next year, claimed to be the next iPad and next iPhone.

Taiwanese news source DigiTimes often reports details of leaked Apple product information. Although it has a mixed track record of reliability it is certainly accurate some of the time and these new claims do back up the earlier rumors of a return to a summer release timeframe for the next iPhone. The leaks were supplied to DigiTimes by “market observers,” and lead DigiTimes to say that a new iPad along with a new iPhone will be introduced in mid-2013.

In our opinion while it may be possible that one of these new product launches could indeed be the next iPad, frankly that doesn’t seem very likely considering Apple has recently faced criticism for releasing the iPad 4 this month, so soon after the previous iPad tablet. A next-generation iPhone looks more likely though to be one of the two big launches expected by mid-2013 although of course that would mean a shift back to the traditional summer iPhone release.

For many months before the iPhone 5 was released it was heavily rumored that it would return to a summer launch, although we always thought a fall release was more plausible and eventually it did appear in the fall. However maybe the summer iPhone release is to return after all, starting next year. The same ‘observers’ also told how component suppliers to Apple are expecting orders to rise between March and April, lending more credence to a summer release. There are already rumors that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will release in the first part of 2013 and so it could be that Apple is planning the next iPhone release earlier than the last two occasions, in order to more directly compete.

We’d really like to hear your thoughts on a new iPhone appearing in the summer. Would you like to see a return to the summer iPhone launch? Maybe you think that as the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 were released in the fall that Apple should stick with a fall release again? Send your comments to let us know.