Just to put the following report in the proper perspective, let’s start out by saying that two months ago — just two days after Apple debuted iOS 7 at WWDC 2013 — we predicted that the iPhone 5S would be released on September 20th later this year, after debuting ten days earlier.
How did we come up with that date? It was easy. We looked at what Apple had done in previous iPhone launches, and then took a look at the calendar for 2013. No soothsaying, no mysterious sources. It was as simple as that.
So when Japan’s largest industry newspaper, Nikkei, starts reporting that Apple will release the iPhone 5S and 5C on (yup) September 20th, you have to ask yourselves. Do they actually know? Or are they just fudging it?
We’re guessing they’re fudging it. Although being taken as gospel by CNET, the Nikkei report reads like a rumor round-up, stating things we already largely know. For example, the report mentions that the iPhone 5S will feature an upgraded processor and camera, a fingerprint sensor, and come in a new gold color. Sound familiar?
Details unique to the Nikkei report largely limit themselves to reporting that Japanese mobile carriers SoftBank and KDDI will carry the iPhone 5S and 5C at launch, while NTT Docomo will not.
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again. You don’t need some mysterious source to self-importantly predict what Apple is going to do in the future. Apple is not a schizophrenic. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, Apple is going to do exactly what it did before, because Apple does everything for a reason already.
