Although the iPhone 5 isn’t that old the rumour is Apple’s next iOS smartphone might be the iPhone 5S but as with all Apple gear that is simply speculation as no one really knows what the next iPhone will be called until the company unveils it. However despite rumours flying around that the new iPhone will be known as the iPhone 5S, another rumour points to Apple skipping straight to the iPhone 6.

As you know, Apple has historically added an ‘S’ to their devices between major generations, such as the iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4S, so one would logically think the next device to follow the iPhone 5 would be the iPhone 5S, but that might not be the case this time round.

It appears that developers are seeing new Apple hardware with an iPhone6.1 identifier with the device running Apple’s next generation operating system iOS 7. According to a report by The Next Web, the developer logs they have seen show that the apps are being tested with an IP address that originates from Apple’s Cupertino HQ in California, which suggests that the company’s software engineers and apps team are currently testing the iPhone 6 with iOS 7 aboard.

The iPhone 5 carriers the identifier iPhone5.1or iPhone5.2 depending on the LTE version and 4G bands on which it operates, so one can assume that the iPhone6.1 identifier refers to the iPhone 6 and as such it would appear that Apple might be considering delivering the iPhone 6 rather than an iPhone 5S in the middle of this year.

Unfortunately though we are not privy to any iOS 7 or iPhone 6 hardware features at this time because the developer logs didn’t reveal any so until Apple delivers the details on the next iPhone and iOS 7 it will all be speculation.

Recently the company moved their hardware release to late summer or early fall as with the iPhone 5, along with pushing their announcement in early summer to accommodate developers who attend WWDC in June.

This is not the first time a new iPhone has been shown in developer logs ahead of an official announcement of course, because the same thing happened with iOS 6 last year with references to the OS showing a month before the unveiling at WWDC.

So there you have it, it would appear that Apple is testing the iPhone 6 running iOS 7, which points to the next iPhone not being called the iPhone 5S, but as usual nothing is set in concrete when it comes to Apple devices.