Apple iPhone: purported component photos surface

The French blog Nowhere Else has published pictures that it claims are cable components from the new iPhone and a smaller iPad that Apple is expected to announce next month.

The cable appears to include a smaller dock connector, which is consistent with reports suggesting that Apple will abandon its existing dock connector with the new iPhone. Though the new design will save space, it will also make many existing iPhone accessories obsolete.

Kyle Wiens, of the website iFixit, which opens up gadgets to help people to repair them, told the blog that the part was consistent with Apple components but he could not say for certain that it was genuine.

_{A French blog claims these are the components for the new iPhone (right) and a smaller iPad.}

Earlier this month, Nowhere Else published images purportedly showing the 'Home' button for the new iPhone as well as the tray for the handset's SIM card.

Recent reports, all citing anonymous sources, claim that Apple will hold an event next month to announce the new iPhone and possibly a smaller iPad as well. September 12 has been suggested as the date of Apple's announcement, with a launch to follow soon afterwards in the US and perhaps in early October outside America.

As always, Apple does not comment on such rumours.

The new iPhone is expected to be thinner and to have a larger screen. Recent rumours from Asia, where the handsets are assembled, has suggested that the body of the phone will be one piece of aluminium - a 'unibody' design similar to the process Apple uses for its laptops.

Though the gadget is commonly referred to as the iPhone 5, it seems likely that Apple will call this new handset simply 'iPhone'. The iPhone 4 was the only iPhone model to bear a name representing its place in sequence.

Before every Apple launch in recent years there have been images of apparently leaked parts. Some later turn out to be genuine, while others are produced by pranksters or designers who want to share their speculation.