iPhone 5 release date likely to be September 21

The iPhone 5 release date hasn’t been publicly announced yet, but on the web today I see that September 21 is looking to be the date of launch. The reason this conclusion is so is because Verizon now has a vacation blackout from September 21 till September 30. This usually indicates that a big product launch is coming.

An event is likely to be held on September 12 to announce the new iPhone 5 which means it will be 9 days from announcement to launch. Nothing is set in stone yet though although multiple sources have hinted at this time frame for the announcement and launch.

Also, the name of the next gen iPhone is not known. It could be the iPhone 5 or just iPhone (aka, the new iPhone). In reality, it will be the 6th generation model as it follows the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S.

It isn’t clear how different it will be from previous generations although leaked parts indicate that Apple [AAPL] is shifting to a smaller dock connector and moving the headphone jack to the bottom of the device. Also, hints at a larger screen have been seen with the width staying about the same but the height adding more pixels taking it to an almost 4 inch display. I’m not sure what else will be updated but I’m guessing that 4G will be added along with a better camera, faster processor and perhaps NFC (at a push) due to Passbook and how Apple will be using the iPhone for boarding tickets etc…

One other last change isn’t too exciting although worth mentioning… that is the microSIM which is expected to be switched out for a nanoSIM. A nano SIM is simply a chip with even more plastic cut off from around the edges to save a few mm3 of space inside, perhaps so a 4G/LTE chip can be squashed inside.

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