Apple’s announcement of the new fourth-generation iPad must have caught many new owners of the iPad 3 off-guard, not expecting to see new hardware arrive so soon after the tablet’s last major revision. This sort of accelerated release timetable may be becoming the new normal for Apple, as rumors look to the company already planning its first production runs of the iPhone 5S for next month.

Supposedly, Apple might be planning to get the ball rolling next month in preparation for more wide-scale production in early 2013. Apple may be interested in getting started so early in hopes of fine-tuning the manufacture of such units in order to avoid the sort of delays currently affecting Apple’s ability to keep up with iPhone 5 consumer demand.

None of this sheds a great deal of light on Apple’s plans for actually releasing this next-gen iPhone hardware, but the idea that it could be ready to so well in advance of the iPhone 5′s one year anniversary sounds like a real possibility. Specifically, these rumors suggest that the so-called iPhone 5S could debut during the first half of 2013.

If this news ends up playing-out, could Apple be shooting itself in the foot by making the iPhone product cycle too short for all but the most die-hard fans to keep up with?

Source: China Times (Google Translate)
Via: BGR